Dick Durbin and a bipartisan group of senators introduced the PROMISE Act on Tuesday as bipartisan social security legislation aimed at forcing Congress to vote on a solvency plan. The bill comes as the Social Security Board of Trustees’ annual report projects a retirement trust fund shortfall in 2032, one year earlier than last year’s estimate.
Durbin said, “The longer Congress waits, the more difficult it will be to address the program’s financial shortfall.” He also said, “We were elected to solve problems — we owe it to our kids and grandkids to protect and strengthen this critical program.”
PROMISE Act Backers
Durbin, Tim Kaine, Angus King, Bill Cassidy, John Cornyn and Thom Tillis backed the legislation. Chris Coons and Alan Armstrong signed onto the bill right before its introduction. The PROMISE Act stands for Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone.
The bill would create an independent, bipartisan advisory committee that would make recommendations to Congress. Its design goes beyond a report: lawmakers would then be required to take an up-or-down vote on a plan that restores Social Security solvency for at least half a century.
Social Security Board of Trustees
The trustees’ projection gives the bill its urgency. The gap now points to 2032, but the program is not described as a collapse. After trust fund depletion, Social Security would keep sending benefits, though at reduced amounts.
That sequence leaves Congress with a narrower choice than delay. The bill sets up recommendations first, then a vote, so the practical question is whether lawmakers will accept a process that ends with a single vote instead of another open-ended debate over financing.
House lawmakers’ 2024 debt commission effort
The push also follows a failed attempt in 2024, when House lawmakers tried to form a federal debt commission that would have tackled Social Security and Medicare. That effort collapsed after Americans for Tax Reform lobbied against it, a reminder that even procedural plans can run into resistance before any solvency changes reach the floor.
Republicans have traditionally been skeptical of endorsing tax increases, while Democrats have traditionally opposed raising the age of Social Security eligibility. Members of the House Republican Study Committee proposed raising the age for Social Security and Medicare in 2022, and Social Security benefits were last reformed roughly 40 years ago.
Will Congress actually pass an up-or-down solvency plan after the advisory committee makes recommendations? Durbin and his co-sponsors are trying to force that answer into the open now, before the 2032 shortfall becomes harder to confront.
