ICYMI: Warren Slams Trump Considering Raising the Retirement Age: “Americans Aren't Buying It and We Will Keep Fighting Back'

ICYMI: Warren Slams Trump Considering Raising the Retirement Age: "Americans Aren't Buying It and We Will Keep Fighting Back"

Warren: "I'm all for older Americans working longer if they want to work longer. But let's not confuse wanting to work with being forced to work because the Trump administration is taking a sledgehammer to Social Security"

Social Security Expert:Raising retirement age could lead to up to 50% benefits cut

Video of Exchange (YouTube)

Washington, D.C. - At a hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned Dan Adcock of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare about Republicans' plans to raise the retirement age.

Mr. Adcock explained that if the Trump administration were to raise the retirement age by one year, it would cost retirees $24,000 in missed benefits, which amounts to about a 7% benefit cut. If the administration were to raise the retirement age by three years, it would amount to a 20% benefit cut.

Mr. Adcock also highlighted that a cut would disproportionately hurt low-income individuals and people without a college degreee-who are more likely to work physically demanding jobs and have to retire early. He underscored that people who retire early out of need often live less on average, meaning that a combination of raising the retirement age on top of a shorter retirement would amount to an even steeper cut.

"I'm all for older Americans working longer if they want to work longer. But let's not confuse wanting to work with being forced to work because the Trump administration is taking a sledgehammer to Social Security," said Senator Warren.

"Social Security is not charity. It is a promise…that people have earned. The Trump administration is trying to strip away the promise, trying to chisel it, trying to shrink it up, and then rebrand it as an opportunity to work. Americans aren't buying it and we will keep fighting back," Senator Warren concluded.

Senator Warren's Social Security Emergency Inflation Relief Act would increase benefits by $200 a month for every senior and would protect the program long-term.

Last spring, Senator Warren launched the Social Security War Room, a coordinated effort for Democrats to fight Trump's mishandling of the Social Security Administration. Through that effort, she has exposed inconsistencies in SSA's customer service metrics under Commissioner Frank Bisigano and investigated the agency's mishandling of customer service through staff cuts and reassignments.

Transcript: Hearing on Examining the Social Security Retirement Earnings Test
Senate Special Committee on Aging
March 25, 2026

Senator Elizabeth Warren: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, when he ran for President in 2024, Donald Trump repeatedly promised that he "wouldn't touch" Social Security. And as soon as he took office, he immediately directed Elon Musk-who thinks Social Security is a "ponzi scheme"-to DOGE his way through the Social Security Administration. He slashed staff, he created new administrative hurdles that make it harder for Americans to get their checks-money that they earned. That is effectively a benefits cut.

Senate Democrats have fought back, and we have forced the Trump Administration to reverse course on some of their most harmful policies. But this fight is not over. The Social Security Administration is still facing a customer service crisis, and the Trump Administration and Republicans are still looking for ways to cut Social Security. So their current approach is: making Americans work until they drop dead.

So, just listen to what Trump's appointees are saying: When asked about raising the retirement age, Social Security Administrator Frank Bisigano said: "everything's being considered and will be considered."

Mr. Adcock, you are a Social Security expert. How would raising the retirement age affect Americans' benefits?

Dan Adcock, Director of Government Relations and Policy at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare: Well, simply put, it's a benefits cut. It doesn't matter whether you claim benefits at 62 or 70 or how long you live, it is a benefit cut any way you slice it. And so, for every year you decide that you're going to raise the retirement age, you are losing $24,000 of income for every year.

In your future benefits, for every year it's increased, you are losing about 7% of your benefits.

Senator Warren: So raising the retirement age on Social Security by one year costs $24,000 and, over your lifetime, is about a 7% benefit cut. Is that right?

Mr. Adcock: For each year.

Senator Warren: For each year?

Mr. Adcock: Yeah, that's right. Some of the proposals being discussed would raise it from 67 to 69 or 67 to 70.

Senator Warren: So, if you go to 70 - if you do the math - how big is the cut?

Mr. Adcock: Well, it ends up being about a 20% future cut.

Senator Warren: 20% future cut. Okay. So, Frank Bisignano is not alone in this. After the Republicans blew trillions of dollars on the tax cut for their rich buddies in their Big Beautiful Bill, Dr. Oz said the way we dig out of the deficit is having, "the average American work a year later and not retire."

Mr. Adcock, how many Americans without a college degree work in physically demanding jobs?

Mr. Adcock: In that category of people who don't have college educations, about 41% of them.

Senator Warren: So what does it mean to work an extra year?

Mr. Adcock: It means an extra year that you don't have benefits - and especially when we're talking about this particular group of people who need to retire early - generally their longevity isn't as long. I think I have seen studies where when you take the bottom half of the income scale, they live about five years less than the people at the top of the income scale.

Senator Warren: Wow.

Mr. Adcock: And the other part of this is, if you do have a physically demanding job, you are likely to be from a community of color. In these situations it means that you're going to need to claim benefits early. Today under current law, if you claim early at 62, you're taking about a 30% cut to your benefits, had you not waited until your full retirement age, which is currently at 67. But if you were to raise the retirement age to 70, we are talking about a 50% cut.

Senator Warren: Wow. And I just want to add in this, there are obviously also people who have college degrees who also have physically demanding jobs.

Am I right on that?

Mr. Adcock: Absolutely.

Senator Warren: My favorite example are kindergarten teachers. Try it sometime. But unsurprisingly, Dr. Oz is not thinking about the millions of Americans who work in manual labor and have physically demanding jobs, many of whom have ground their bodies for decades at construction sites, hauling boxes in warehouses, scrubbing bathroom floors and literally may not be capable of adding work.

Indeed, as you say, these are often people who have to retire early because they are just physically spent. And look, I'm all for older Americans working longer if they want to work longer. But let's not confuse wanting to work with being forced to work because the Trump administration is taking a sledgehammer to Social Security.

Instead of hanging those workers out to dry, we should be expanding and protecting Social Security, especially when tariffs and war are now driving up prices for seniors, for everybody in the country.

So, Mr. Adcock, how could we pay for bigger Social Security benefits?

Mr. Adcock: Our preferred solution would be making the wealthy pay their fair share.

Senator Warren: Yeah, that seems right to me. Look, we've got to make sure the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share and not force seniors to work until they drop dead.

Right now a billionaire - Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk - pays as much in Social Security taxes as someone who makes $175,000 a year. I have a bill to fix that and it would raise enough money to increase benefits by $200 per month for every senior, and help stabilize Social Security and make sure it is around for the long haul. Social Security is not charity. It is a promise. And it is a promise that people have earned. The Trump administration is trying to strip away the promise, trying to chisel it, trying to shrink it up, and then rebrand it as an opportunity to work.

Americans aren't buying it and we will keep fighting back. Thank you Mr. Chairman.

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