自国会采取行动改变社会保障以来，已经过去了
39 年。
一些众议院民主党人希望通过一项改善福利的法案来改变这种状况，该法案已经修改并重新提交给国会。
周二，众议院筹款方式社会保障小组委员会举行了听证会，以审议一项名为“社会保障 2100：神圣信托”的提案。
社会保障小组委员会主席、民主党众议员约翰拉尔森最近与民主党参议员理查德布卢门撒尔一起介绍了这项立法，听证会标志着自 2019 年以来就该问题举行的第八次国会会议。
该法案是拉尔森在前几届国会会议上提出的《社会保障 2100 法案》的最新版本。
拉尔森在国会听证会前接受 CNBC.com 采访时表示，该法案的新名称是对乔拜登总统的致敬，拜登在总统竞选期间将社会保障称为“神圣的信任”。
“我非常有信心他们理解并支持我们正在做的事情，”拉尔森谈到拜登的工作人员时说。
随着华盛顿立法者努力在年底前完成议程上的一系列项目，拉森希望该法案将在 2022 年取得进展。
拉尔森说：“我想在今年的第一年，我们就可以为加价做好准备，并在春天之前将其付诸实践。”
该法案目前有 195 个共同提案国，他们都是民主党人。
然而，根据周二的证词，可能很难说服共和党立法者支持它。纽约州众议员汤姆里德称赞该措施中包含了某些改革，但表示他对支付福利增加的成本感到担忧。
里德说：“虽然我不能支持这项法案，但我很高兴与拉森主席合作，让一些真正的永久性有针对性的改革成为法律。”
根据社会保障管理局的最新估计，由于福利短缺将于 2034 年生效，国会面临就社会保障采取行动的最后期限。那时，该计划依赖的信托基金将支付承诺福利的 78%，以发放这些月度支票。
“拖延的时代结束了，”拉森说。
为了解决这一不足，立法者可以实施福利削减、税收增加或两者结合。
新的《社会保障 2100 法案》包括一系列旨在增加福利的条款，同时通过对富人征税来增加收入。
值得注意的是，该法案不会包括拉尔森和其他支持者反对的提高退休年龄等想法。
它将为新的和当前的受益人提供大约相当于平均福利 2% 的福利增加。
该法案将最低福利设定为贫困线以上 125%。它还将废除某些规定，使公职人员及其拥有养老金收入的家庭不会减少福利，现在就是这种情况。
该提案还将提高某些寡妇和鳏夫的福利，并为从劳动力中抽出时间的护理人员提供信贷。它还会将学生的福利年龄提高到 25 岁，并结束五个月的残疾福利等待期。此外，它将改变每年计算受益人生活费用调整的方式。
为了支付这些变化，立法要求增加高收入者支付的社会保障税。 2021 年，这些税收的工资上限为 142,800 美元，2022 年将升至 147,000 美元。该提案重新对 400,000 美元及以上的工资征税。
该法案将创造的收入仅为 2019 年提出的先前社会保障 2100 法案提案的一半左右。值得注意的是，福利增强只会实施五年。
“我认为我们不必等待五年，但这是第一步，”拉森说。
该提案还旨在将社会保障信托基金的消耗延长至 2038 年。
共和党人尚未就社会保障的具体改革提出自己的建议。一项名为《信托法》的法案将设立一个两党委员会，负责提出立法修复方案。但拉森和其他人抱怨说，这些决定中的大部分都是闭门造车的。
在周二的听证会上，曾在乔治·W·布什总统的白宫工作的美国企业研究所高级研究员安德鲁·比格斯表示，在提出其他社会保障改革方案时，需要两党合作才能通过有关该问题的立法。
“两党应该坐下来讨论两党合作的社会保障计划可能是什么样子，”比格斯说。
拉尔森说，虽然各方在社会保障问题上存在分歧，但美国人认为这个问题是跨党派的。
“他们要求国会做什么？”拉尔森谈到选民时说。 “他们要求他们投票。
“如果你反对这个计划或者你有更好的想法，把它放在那里，我们也会投票。”
‘The time for procrastination is over.' How one Democratic lawmaker wants to fix Social Security
It has been 39 years since Congress has taken action to change Social Security.
Some House Democrats are hoping to change that with a bill to improve benefits that has been revamped and reintroduced in Congress.
On Tuesday, a House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee held a hearing to consider a proposal titled Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust.
The hearing marks the eighth Capitol Hill session on the issue since 2019, according to Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., chair of the Social Security Subcommittee, who recently introduced the legislation with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
The bill is the latest version of the Social Security 2100 Act, which Larson introduced in previous sessions of Congress.
The bill's new name is a nod to President Joe Biden, who referred to Social Security as a “sacred trust” during his presidential campaign, according to Larson, who spoke with CNBC.com in an interview ahead of the congressional hearing.
“I'm very confident that they understand and support what we're doing,” Larson said of Biden's staff.
As Washington lawmakers push to accomplish a host of items on their agenda before year end, Larson hopes the bill will have momentum in 2022.
“I'm thinking the first of the year we'll be ready for a mark-up and bring it to the floor by spring,” Larson said.
The bill currently has 195 co-sponsors, all of whom are Democrats.
However, based on Tuesday's testimony, it may be difficult to sway Republican lawmakers to support it. Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., praised the inclusion of certain reforms in the measure, but said he has concerns about covering the costs of benefit increases.
“While I cannot support this bill, I am happy to work with Chairman Larson to get some real permanent targeted reforms enacted into law,” Reed said.
Congress faces a deadline to act on Social Security, due to a benefit shortfall set to take effect in 2034, according to the most recent estimates from the Social Security Administration. At that time, just 78% of promised benefits would be payable from trust funds the program relies on to issue those monthly checks.
“The time for procrastination is over,” Larson said.
To address that shortfall, lawmakers could implement benefit cuts, tax increases or a combination of both.
The new Social Security 2100 Act includes a host of provisions aimed at increasing benefits while adding more revenue through additional taxes on the wealthy.
Notably, the bill would not include ideas like raising the retirement age, which Larson and other advocates oppose.
It would provide a benefit increase for new and current beneficiaries amounting to about 2% of the average benefit.
The bill would set the minimum benefit at 125% above the poverty line. It would also repeal certain rules that make it so public workers and their families with pension income wouldn't receive reduced benefits, which is now the case.
The proposal would also boost benefits for certain widows and widowers and provide credits to caregivers who take time out of the workforce. It would also raise the benefit age for students up through age 25 and end the five-month waiting period for disability benefits. Additionally, it would change the way cost-of-living adjustments for beneficiaries are calculated each year.
To pay for those changes, the legislation calls for increasing Social Security taxes paid by higher-wage earners. In 2021, those taxes are capped at $142,800 in wages, and in 2022 that will rise to $147,000. This proposal reapplies taxes on wages at $400,000 and up.
The bill would create only about half the revenue of the previous Social Security 2100 Act proposal put forward in 2019. Notably, the benefit enhancements would only be in place for five years.
“I don't think we have to wait five years, but this is a first step,” Larson said.
The proposal also aims to extend the depletion of Social Security's trust funds to 2038.
Republicans have not put forth their own proposal for specific changes to Social Security. One bill, called the TRUST Act, would create a bipartisan committee that would be tasked with coming up with legislative fixes. But Larson and others have complained that much of those decisions would be made behind closed doors.
During Tuesday's hearing, Andrew Biggs, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who worked in President George W. Bush's White House when other Social Security reforms were proposed, said a two-party approach is needed for legislation on the issue to pass.
“The two parties should sit down together and talk about what a bipartisan Social Security package might look like,” Biggs said.
While the parties are divided on Social Security, Americans see the issue as bipartisan, Larson said.
“What are they asking Congress to do?,” Larson said of voters. “They are asking them to vote.
“If you're opposed to the program or you have a better idea, put it out there and we'll vote on that, too.”
