Sanders warns Democrats: Any effort to fast-track Social Security changes would undercut party trust

Senate Sanders warns Democrats: Any effort to fast-track Social Security changes would undercut party trust Comments: by Mira Bhakta - 08/04/26 11:02 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Mira Bhakta - 08/04/26 11:02 AM ET Comments: Link copied

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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to Democrats warning that privatizing Social Security or passing the Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone, or PROMISE Act, would result in a breakdown of trust among Democratic voters during a key midterm election year.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Sanders sent the letter, which called on the Democratic caucus to make it “abundantly clear that under no circumstances will we support legislation that cuts Social Security benefits, raises the retirement age, reduces Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs), or privatizes this essential program.” It was first reported by Politico.

The PROMISE Act would create a procedure through which the bipartisan Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB) would make recommendations to Congress to achieve a period of Social Security solvency for 50 years.

Sanders criticized the bill because the SSAB is an “unelected commission,” and its expedited timeline falls before the midterm elections. He said it would be “absurd, anti-democratic and unacceptable” to decide the fate of Social Security so close to midterm elections.

Sanders alternatively proposed cutting caps on Social Security income taxes, while pointing out that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk pays the same amount to the program as someone earning $184,500 a year.

“We will strengthen and expand Social Security by requiring the wealthiest Americans to finally pay the same percentage of their income into Social Security as tens of millions of working people do today,” he wrote in the letter.

“That is how the Democratic Party begins to regain the trust of the American people,” he said.

Social Security provides a source of income for retirees, but according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, who endorsed the act, the program faces a 75-year shortfall and an estimated deficit of more than $30 trillion. As the aging population grows, the workforce is shrinking, with the ratio of workers to beneficiaries dropping from 5-to-1 to 2.9-to-1 between 1960 and today.

The bipartisan bill was opposed by the AARP, which was strongly against having “an unelected board” attempt to “rapidly debate and draft legislation to shore up the program’s finances.”

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