For forty years, Congress has known Social Security was heading for a shortfall — and for forty years they’ve mostly looked the other way. That may finally be changing!
A bipartisan group of seven senators just introduced the PROMISE Act — Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone. Nice name. Read the bill, though, and none of those promises are actually in there:
A bipartisan group of seven senators just introduced the PROMISE Act — Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone. Nice name. Read the bill, though, and none of those promises are actually in there:
- No retirement opportunities are protected.
- No income security for everyone.
- And no promise of fixing the problem.
What it promises is a process. (Forgive my eye roll.)
Here’s what’s about to happen:
- The Social Security Advisory Board — a panel of independent experts — studies the problem, holds hearings, and drafts an actual bill to fund the program for the next 50 years. Recommendations are due by mid-September 2026.
- That bill goes to the two committees in charge — Senate Finance and House Ways and Means — who can hold hearings and make changes, but if they haven’t acted by early November, it advances to the floor anyway.
- Once it’s on the floor, lawmakers can still tweak it, but they can’t dodge it. By mid-November, there’s a mandatory vote, and every member of the House and Senate goes on record: yes or no.
So let me explain the eye roll.
Forcing a vote is not the same as forcing an agreement. Passing it still takes 3/5 of the Senate and a House majority. If nothing happens by 2032, all Social Security recipients take a 22% cut — as calculated today. That’s not a threat — it’s current law. And it amounts to about $450 a month off the average recipient’s check!
The ideas already circulating hint at what’s on the table: a “Six Figure Limit” capping benefits at $50,000 for individuals, $100,000 for couples (hitting only the top 2% of beneficiaries), or raising the $184,500 cap on income taxed for Social Security, as Senators Warren and Moreno have proposed.
For a bill named PROMISE, the only real guarantee is a vote — not a fix.
If Social Security is a real part of your retirement income, now’s the time to stress-test your plan against a 22% cut — so whatever Congress does or doesn’t do in 2026 — you’re not finding out the hard way in 2032.
Plan well,
Barbara
August 9,2026
Sources:
Forcing a vote is not the same as forcing an agreement. Passing it still takes 3/5 of the Senate and a House majority. If nothing happens by 2032, all Social Security recipients take a 22% cut — as calculated today. That’s not a threat — it’s current law. And it amounts to about $450 a month off the average recipient’s check!
The ideas already circulating hint at what’s on the table: a “Six Figure Limit” capping benefits at $50,000 for individuals, $100,000 for couples (hitting only the top 2% of beneficiaries), or raising the $184,500 cap on income taxed for Social Security, as Senators Warren and Moreno have proposed.
For a bill named PROMISE, the only real guarantee is a vote — not a fix.
If Social Security is a real part of your retirement income, now’s the time to stress-test your plan against a 22% cut — so whatever Congress does or doesn’t do in 2026 — you’re not finding out the hard way in 2032.
Plan well,
Barbara
August 9,2026
Sources:
Barbara J Norman LLC, dba Sage Path Solutions is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other government agency.
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