In Plain Service

Subcommittee Hearing: The Future of Social Security Hearing Date: Wednesday, June 24, 2026 Hearing Time: 3:00 PM Hearing Location: 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building Submitted by: Leland Dudek Former Acting Commissioner of the Social Security Administration The Honorable Chuck Grassley Chairman Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy United States Senate Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Bernard Sanders Ranking Member Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy United States Senate Washington, DC 20510 Dear Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Sanders, and Members of the Subcommittee: Thank you for the opportunity to submit this statement for the record on the future of Social Security. I write as a former Acting Commissioner of the Social Security Administration and as someone who believes deeply in the mission of the agency. Social Security is not an abstract budget line. It is the foundation of retirement security, disability protection...

  Last week, SSA released the 2026 Trustees Report.  Social Security’s retirement trust fund are now projected to be depleted in the fourth quarter of 2032. If Congress does nothing, incoming revenue would cover only about 78 percent of scheduled retirement benefits. Medicare’s Hospital Insurance trust fund faces depletion in 2033, when it would be able to pay about 89 percent of costs. Those dates are close enough so that delay is no longer harmless. Will Rogers once poked fun at President Hoover’s faith that money placed at the top would somehow trickle down to the people who needed it most. Hoover’s background was that of an engineer, and he knew water trickled down. Rodgers was gentle enough to point out that money trickled up. Give money to the people at the bottom, and the people at the top will have it before night anyway, but at least it will have passed through the poor fellow’s hands. That line still works because it is funny, but it works even better because it is t...