U.S. Senate Democrats Press President Trump on Republicans’ Threats to Social Security’s Future. New Trustees Report Reveals Trump’s Policies Accelerate Social Security Trust Fund Insolvency.

Details: Last Updated: Tuesday, 16 June 2026 02:58; Published: Tuesday, 16 June 2026 05:03

New Trustees Report reveals Trump’s policies accelerate Social Security Trust Fund insolvency as top Republicans threaten Social Security benefit cuts

June 16, 2026 - Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) pressed President Donald Trump on Republican threats to Social Security after a new Trustees Report revealed that Republican policies are accelerating Social Security’s insolvency. The letter also follows a series of comments from Trump administration officials and Republican leaders in Congress suggesting that they support benefit cuts.

Text of Letter (PDF)

“[T]hese comments cast fresh doubt on your ‘sacred pledge’ to ‘always protect Social Security’ – and your failure to respond to our previous requests for assurances – we urge you to clarify the administration’s stance on raising the retirement age,” wrote the senators.

The Social Security Administration's 2026 Trustees Report revealed that Trump and Congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will worsen the trust fund's finances and accelerate its insolvency.

Republicans have long supported increasing the retirement age, privatizing Social Security, or otherwise cutting Social Security benefits — and some have continued to make explicit threats even after Trump promised not to ‘touch’ Social Security. Just last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson indicated that Republicans intend to cut Social Security, along with Medicare and Medicaid, if they are in a position to do so next Congress. Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano previously indicated that raising the retirement age — a critical cut to Americans’ benefits — is under consideration.

A Senate Republican in a March Budget Committee hearing also suggested raising the retirement age — which would, in practice, reduce the median retiree’s monthly benefits and disproportionately harm low-income seniors. And Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz called for Americans to delay their retirement and work longer in order to pay for the federal deficit, which Trump’s OBBBA increased.

“The new estimates showing that your OBBBA will hasten the demise of the Social Security trust fund, the ongoing pattern of comments suggesting that Republicans will seek to increase the retirement age or otherwise cut Social Security benefits, and the SSA customer service chaos that is occurring under your watch and making it more difficult for older Americans to interact with the agency when they need assistance raise new questions about whether you will break – or are already – breaking your promise to ‘not touch’ Social Security,” wrote the senators.

"Raising the retirement age – or otherwise cutting benefits – only worsens the looming retirement income crisis, and, as we outlined in our initial letter to you, doing so hurts older Americans, cutting monthly benefits and forcing millions into poverty," continued the senators.

The senators pressed President Trump for answers to a series of questions regarding the administration's plans for Social Security, including whether he supports raising the retirement age, whether he would veto legislation that increases the age of eligibility for Social Security, and whether White House officials have discussed raising the retirement age with Administrator Oz. The senators requested a response by June 27, 2026.

Senator Warren has introduced legislation that would expand Social Security benefits by $2,400 a year and ensure Social Security is fully funded for the next 75 years while not raising taxes on over 91 percent of American households.

Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room coordinates Democrats’ fight to defend Social Security, encourages grassroots engagement by providing opportunities for Americans to share what Social Security means to them, and educates Senate staff, the American public, and stakeholders about Republicans’ agenda and their continued cuts to Americans’ Social Security services and benefits:

In June 2026, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a Member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), pressed Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano and three former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers on an alarming new whistleblower account detailing Trump administration plans to mark 2.7 million people as dead in a Social Security database as part of its immigration enforcement agenda.
In April 2026, Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room, led by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), published a new report highlighting how, in its first year, it has fought to protect Americans’ Social Security benefits.
In March 2026, at a hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned Dan Adcock of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare about Republicans’ plans to raise the retirement age.
In March 2026, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Ranking Member of the Special Committee on Aging Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Ranking Member of the Committee on Finance Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) launched a new investigation into the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) ongoing customer service crisis reaching new extremes, the latest from Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room.
In March 2026, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representatives Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), and James Moylan (R-GU) led over 30 lawmakers in introducing the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Restoration Act, a bipartisan bill to strengthen critical SSI benefits that support nearly 8 million seniors and Americans with disabilities.
In December 2025, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, and U.S. Representative Gabe Amo (D-RI-01) introduced the Social Security Survivor Benefits Equity Act, bicameral legislation to increase the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) lump-sum death benefit, which covers costs associated with cremation or burials for surviving family members, to account for inflation.
In December 2025, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.); Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee; Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP); and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Ranking Member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, wrote to Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano, pressing him on reports that the agency has a new goal of slashing field office visits by nearly 15 million annually.
In November 2025, Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), both leading members of the Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room, launched a probe into Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano’s tenure as chief executive officer at Fiserv.
In October 2025, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) led Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Senators Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) in introducing the Social Security Emergency Inflation Relief Act.
In September 2025, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy, and Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room leaders today introduced the Keep Billionaires Out of Social Security Act.
In July 2025, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a leader of the Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room, secured key commitments and admissions from Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano during a private meeting.
In June 2025, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, pressed top Trump administration officials on how President Trump’s chaotic tariffs — paired with his efforts to dismantle the Social Security Administration — are harming America’s seniors.
In May 2025, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Ranking Member on the Senate Aging Committee, pressed new Commissioner of the Social Security Administration Frank Bisignano on reported plans to recategorize thousands of workers as Schedule F “policy-making” employees.
In May 2025, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Ranking Member of the Senate Aging Committee Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) welcomed newly-confirmed Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA) Frank Bisignano to the agency with copies of 17 letters — containing nearly 200 unanswered questions — the lawmakers had previously sent to the SSA under Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek.
In April 2026, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Ranking Member on the Senate Special Committee on Aging Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) led a coalition of over 100 Congressional Democrats in writing to the Acting Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), Leland Dudek, to demand that he keep Social Security field offices open.

Source: Senator Elizabeth Warren