People who paid into Social Security throughout their working lives could see their monthly checks cut by 22% as early as 2032, according to a new report from the program’s trustees.
Bill Sweeney, senior vice president of government affairs for AARP, said one in five Americans receive Social Security benefits and the program is the biggest source of income for people who can no longer work. Sweeney cited recent polling showing eight in 10 people age 50 or older do not want lawmakers to cut Social Security to save it, as they did in 1983.
“The last thing they need to be doing, when prices for everything are going up and people are stretched so thin, is to look at cutting Social Security even further,” Sweeney explained. “What they need to do is shore up the finances without cutting the benefits that people have earned.”
In New Mexico, the average cost of living is about $2,500 per month but Social Security covers only about 75% of that, meaning beneficiaries already need another $600 each month to make ends meet.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has reintroduced legislation to expand benefits by $2,400 and make the program solvent for the next 75 years by removing the payroll tax cap. Currently, billionaires contribute the same amount to Social Security as someone earning $185,000 a year. Social Security has long been one of the government’s most popular programs but declining fertility and immigration rates mean fewer workers are contributing through Social Security payroll taxes, creating the funding shortfall.
Sweeney stressed New Mexico voters should ask congressional candidates hard questions before November’s midterm elections.
“The people who we elect are going to be the people having to decide what to do,” Sweeney emphasized. “It’s really important to be asking questions of our politicians and the candidates who are running for office, what their plan is, and do their ideas for how to fix Social Security line up with what we want?”
The 90-year-old program, signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, is also a major economic driver in New Mexico, injecting more than $2.6 billion into the state’s economy each year. The Center on Economic and Policy Research said the projected shortfall is less than half the cost of increased military spending called for in the Trump administration’s 2027 budget.