Sponsors (5)
Official title: To improve the retirement security of American families by increasing Social Security benefits for current and future beneficiaries while making Social Security stronger for future generations.
Introduced June 23, 2026 by Lateefah Simon · Last progress June 23, 2026
The bill shifts benefits toward better, more targeted inflation protection for elderly beneficiaries and raises benefits for many future retirees while temporarily cutting payroll taxes for higher earners — a trade-off that improves benefit adequacy for some but increases long-term program costs, administrative complexity, and concentrates gains among higher-income individuals.
All current and future Social Security beneficiaries: COLAs would be tied to an index reflecting elderly consumer spending, so benefits are more likely to keep pace with costs older Americans actually face.
People first eligible for Social Security after 2030 (particularly higher earners): benefit formulas change (raising the lowest bend-point factor and adding a 5% surplus-AIME tier), increasing primary insurance amounts for many future beneficiaries.
Current beneficiaries whose PIAs were computed before 2026: protected from having recomputation reduce their original benefit, preserving existing expectations for those already receiving or near receiving benefits.
All taxpayers and future beneficiaries: lower payroll tax revenue (from the 2026–2029 phased reduction) combined with higher benefit formulas and potentially larger elderly COLAs would increase long-term Social Security outlays and strain program solvency.
Higher-earning workers and high-income beneficiaries: the tax relief and surplus-AIME benefit are concentrated among those with earnings above the contribution base, so financial gains are skewed toward higher earners rather than broadly distributed.
Employers, payroll administrators, self-employed taxpayers, and federal agencies: the phased tax schedule, new surplus-AIME computation, recomputation rules, and a new elderly index will require system updates and additional administration, raising compliance and implementation costs.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Phases down payroll tax on earnings above the Social Security base (2026–2029), changes the PIA benefit formula for future cohorts, and switches COLAs to a new CPI-Elderly index.
Phases down Social Security payroll taxation on earnings above the annual contribution base from 2026 through 2029, returning to no tax on those earnings in 2030 and later. It also changes how benefits are calculated for future beneficiaries by raising the lowest PIA bend-point factor, adding a new fourth bend that gives 5% of surplus AIME to benefit formulas for later cohorts, and adjusts indexing rules. The bill further switches Social Security cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) to use a new Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers prepared by BLS, with COLA computations using that index for applicable quarters ending on or after September 30, 2026. BLS is directed to create and publish the CPI-Elderly and the law authorizes appropriations for that work.