A Hearing on Social Security legislation was announced for December 7, 2021. The hearing, conducted by the U.S. House Social Security Subcommittee, will be to discuss the Social Security 2100 legislation that is intended to strengthen Social Security and extend the solvency of the program.
The legislation was championed by U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-Connecticut. Unfortunately the bill is pretty much dead on arrival during the current political climate and considering mid-term congressional elections are just around the corner, but it does give Congress a starting point in which to tackle Social Security’s issues.
Considering Larson is the architect of the plan, it would be valuable to learn the bullet points of the legislation being offered according to him. Below are the highlights of the Social Security 2100 plan as identified by Larson on his website. Sooner or later Congress is going to have to deal with Social Security, something current legislators seem unwilling to do.
How do we do this? First, we ask individuals making more than $400,000 a year to contribute into Social Security in the same way as the rest of us. Currently, those with earnings above $118,500 no longer have to pay into the system. To put it another way, LeBron James has made his yearly contribution to Social Security by about lunchtime on New Year’s Day.
Second, we slowly introduce an increase to the contributions both workers and employers make. Over the span of 25 years, it would mean an additional 0.05 percent each year. A worker making $50,000 a year would pay an additional 50 cents per week each year to Social Security.
With those two provisions alone — for less than a cup of coffee each month and by asking the top 0.4 percent of earners to pay into the system — we can keep Social Security solvent though the end of the century.
