Whitehouse Calls for Passage of Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act Following CBO Report Warning

Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) today called for passage of his Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its projections showing that Medicare's main trust fund will be depleted 12 years earlier than expected in 2040, and Social Security's main trust fund will be exhausted one year earlier than anticipated in 2032.

"Unless billionaires start paying their fair share into the system, Medicare and Social Security will have to start cutting benefits earlier than expected," said Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Finance Committee. "This is a shameful outcome of President Trump and MAGA Republicans' Big, Beautiful-for-Billionaires law, which rewarded their wealthy donors with generous tax breaks on the backs of retirees. Without raising taxes a single penny on those making less than $400,000, and with no injustice to the mega-rich, we can fulfill the promise of a dignified retirement for all Americans."

The Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act, introduced by Whitehouse and Congressman Brendan F. Boyle (D-PA-02), would require taxpayers earning more than $400,000 to contribute a fairer share to Social Security and Medicare. The Social Security and Medicare actuaries each found that the legislation would extend the solvency of both programs by at least 75 years - the full actuarial window.

Medicare and Social Security are twin pillars of economic fairness and retirement security, providing lifelines to older Americans and their children, and disabled workers. In 2024, Social Security alone lifted 22 million Americans out of poverty, and nearly half of seniors live in households that receive at least 50 percent of their family income from Social Security benefits that they have earned after a lifetime of work. Medicare protects its nearly 70 million beneficiaries from potentially catastrophic health care costs.