8 New Social Security Bills in Congress Now

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, pressed House leaders Tuesday to pass the Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust Act, H.R. 5723, which adopts the consumer price Index for the elderly as the basis of the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) and applies the payroll tax to annual wages above $400,000. "I wish to indicate our strong support for H.R. 5723 - Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust and encourage its prompt floor consideration this Congress," Jayapal told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Monday in a letter. The bill, Jayapal wrote, "increases benefits across the board at a time of higher inflation, protects low-income seniors, widows and widowers, ends wait-times for those with disabilities needing support and more. Crucially, it is paid for by making millionaires and billionaires pay the same rate as everyone else by ensuring the payroll tax is applied to wages above $400,000." She urged Pelosi to move the bill to a vote in the House "as soon as possible." Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., chairman of the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, urged his fellow lawmakers in December to vote on the bill. A spokesperson for Larson's office told ThinkAdvisor on Tuesday that the bill will be marked up, and "the plan is for a floor vote before November." The 2100 bill would push to 2038 the trust fund's depletion date, at which it would be forced to cut benefits 20%. Jayapal also noted in her letter to Pelosi that the bill "makes a number of urgently needed improvements to the program, including increasing retirement, disability, and dependent benefits; protecting against inflation; removing penalties against dual-income households; ending the five-month waiting period for disability benefits." See the gallery above for eight other Social Security bills in Congress now.