People walk with umbrellas outside of the U.S. Capitol Building on July 09, 2026 in Washington, DC. Heavy rain and lightning swept through the city on Thursday night.
Finn Gomez | Getty Images
A bipartisan group of senators is introducing a bill to initiate action on Social Security reform.
The PROMISE Act — which stands for Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone — would establish a process for enacting changes to Social Security, a more than 90-year-old federal program that provides benefits to more than 71 million Americans each month.
Social Security, a pay-as-you-go program that relies on trust funds to supplement payroll taxes when paying benefits, faces a looming funding shortfall. The program may only be able to pay 78% of retirement benefits in 2032, according to the annual Social Security trustees report released in June.
While members of Congress have proposed several pieces of legislation to address the issue, almost none of those bills have been brought up for a vote, according to the PROMISE Act proposal released Wednesday. The proposal would create a legislative procedure through which those ideas may be considered.
Lawmakers introducing the bill include Sens. Dick Durbin, the Democratic Whip from Illinois, as well as Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana; John Cornyn, R-Texas; Tim Kaine, D-Virginia; Angus King, I-Maine; and Thom Tillis, R-N.C.
“Social Security is the bedrock promise of a secure retirement, earned after a lifetime of hard work,” Durbin said in a statement. “But the longer Congress waits, the more difficult it will be to address the program’s financial shortfall.”
Read more CNBC personal finance coverage
The move comes after four of those leaders — Cassidy, Durbin, Kaine and Tillis — released a joint statement on June 10 calling for bipartisan action on Social Security following the release of the annual trustees report.
“We say to our colleagues: join us in doing what we were elected to do—legislate on hard issues and protect this lifeline program for our kids and grandkids,” the senators wrote.
Durbin is retiring at the end of his current term, while Cassidy failed to win his recent primary reelection bid.
“I want to get it done before we leave, so there is impetus to get it done,” Cassidy told CNBC.com in June. Cassidy has what he calls a “big idea” fix for Social Security: Create a separate investment fund for the program, modeled after changes enacted to the federal Railroad Retirement system under President George W. Bush.
Other suggested changes include raising the retirement age or increasing taxes on high earners. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, recently co-wrote an op-ed saying they want to remove the payroll tax cap, currently set at $184,500.
The 2026 trustees report projects the retirement trust fund may run out in the fourth quarter of 2032, three months earlier than previously projected.
If that trust fund — the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, or OASI — is combined with the disability trust fund, the program may be able to pay full benefits until 2034, at which point 83% of benefits would be payable.
At the same time, the report showed the 75-year solvency gap for the program rose to 4.42% of payroll, up from 3.82%. That change prompted the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a think tank, to say “Social Security’s financial outlook has substantially worsened.” CRFP is a supporter of the PROMISE Act.
Some experts say that looming depletion dates may pose risks to the bond market and the economy and could lead to a fiscal crisis.
How the PROMISE Act would work
The PROMISE Act would create a procedure to initiate Congressional action on Social Security ahead of the trust fund depletion dates.
“Our bipartisan proposal opens Congress to debate this issue in a transparent, fair, and bipartisan way,” Durbin said in a statement.
It would task the Social Security Advisory Board — an independent, bipartisan committee — with sending a base bill to Congress after gathering public input. Any legislative recommendations included would have to provide at least 50 years of solvency for Social Security.
A base bill would be introduced by majority leaders of the Senate and House. If they do not, other members of Congress could do so.
The base bill would be sent to the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee for further consideration, hearings or amendments.
It would then be brought to the Senate and House floors for 100 hours of consideration, during which time lawmakers may propose substitute amendments. For an amendment to be adopted, it would need to meet a 60-vote threshold in the Senate.
The final bill would also need a minimum of 60 Senate votes.
The PROMISE Act would also create a solvency review process every 10 years that would activate the same floor procedures if a Social Security funding shortfall is projected.
The bill aims to open a pathway for Congress to consider all serious Social Security proposals, according to a fact sheet. It “does not bypass regular order, predetermine a policy outcome, or establish a fiscal commission,” the fact sheet states.
Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
