Sponsors (3)
Official title: To protect our Social Security system and improve benefits for current and future generations.
Introduced June 29, 2026 by John B. Larson · Last progress June 29, 2026
The bill increases benefits and protections for many Social Security beneficiaries and students while strengthening program financing by taxing more earnings, but it raises near‑term federal costs, increases payroll tax exposure for workers and employers, and creates administrative complexity and transitional uncertainty.
High-earners, self-employed people, and the overall Social Security system: removing the traditional wage cap and counting more earnings increases Social Security tax receipts and consolidates trust accounting, strengthening long-term program financing and simplifying trust-level reporting.
Retirees, low-earning workers, and caregivers: the bill raises near-term monthly benefits (higher PIA first bend for 2027–2036), creates a minimum PIA floor tied to the 2026 poverty guideline for long-tenured workers, credits up to five years of caregiving as earnings, and requires better elderly-focused price measures (CPI–E/R‑CPI‑E), together boosting retirement income and making COLAs and careg
Beneficiaries and local communities that rely on SSA offices: preserving SSA staffing levels, imposing a moratorium on certain office closures, and adding notice/hearing and appeals protections maintains in-person service capacity, reduces risk of wrongful SSAN invalidation and improper disclosures, and increases transparency and recourse for affected individuals.
All taxpayers and federal budgets: higher near-term benefits for 2027–2036 and expanded taxable earnings (removing the wage cap) substantially increase federal costs and may require higher taxes, reallocation of inter-program transfers, or changes to trust‑fund accounting to cover those costs.
Most workers and many employers: removing the wage cap means more workers (and employers) pay Social Security taxes on previously uncapped earnings, reducing take-home pay and raising labor costs for firms.
Beneficiaries, students, and administrators: numerous temporary changes (many provisions limited to 2027–2036), redeterminations/recomputations after 2036, and multiple conforming amendments create legal and administrative complexity, retroactive adjustments, and long‑term uncertainty about benefit levels and eligibility.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Increases Social Security benefit formulas and COLA indexing for 2027–2036, expands child/student benefits to age 26, removes the payroll wage cap after 2026, and limits SSA closures pending review.
Raises Social Security benefit amounts for many beneficiaries by increasing the primary insurance formula's first bend-point multiplier for 2027–2036, changes the way certain cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) reference price indexes, and directs the Bureau of Labor Statistics to publish a Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers (CPI–E). It also expands when children and certain students qualify for dependent Social Security benefits (including a cap at age 26), repeals the long-standing Social Security wage base cap over time (changing how payroll taxes apply), and places requirements and temporary limits on SSA office closures and staffing. The bill combines benefit increases, program eligibility changes, major payroll-tax code revisions, and administrative requirements for the Social Security Administration. Key effective dates vary: many benefit/COLA provisions operate for calendar years 2027–2036, the wage-base repeal becomes effective after 2026 (with some self-employment timing after 2025), and the administrative moratorium is effective on enactment with reporting requirements due no earlier than January 21, 2029.