Sponsors (6)
Official title: To improve the retirement security of United States families by strengthening Social Security.
Introduced June 11, 2026 by Linda T. Sánchez · Last progress June 11, 2026
The bill shifts Social Security indexing and benefit rules to better target and raise payments for many seniors and protect low-income recipients, while reducing payroll-tax burdens for some high earners — but together these changes increase program costs, administrative complexity, and long-term solvency risk for taxpayers and future beneficiaries.
Seniors and Social Security beneficiaries will likely receive larger and better-targeted cost-of-living adjustments because COLAs are tied to CPI-E and the bill directs development of an elderly-specific CPI, increasing purchasing power for many retirees.
Policymakers, agencies (e.g., Social Security, BLS), and researchers will gain improved, disaggregated inflation data focused on older Americans, supporting better benefit-setting and analysis of elders' cost burdens.
Surviving spouses (widows/widowers) would get higher monthly survivor benefits under a new rule tied to the greater of the deceased spouse’s PIA or a 75% combined formula, increasing income for many survivors.
Taxpayers and future beneficiaries face substantially higher long-term cost pressure on Social Security and Medicare because phasing out payroll taxation on high earnings, adopting CPI-E for COLAs, expanding survivor benefits, and protecting SSI together raise program outlays and could accelerate solvency shortfalls.
The bill will require additional federal spending and staff time to develop and maintain a new elderly CPI and implement program changes, potentially diverting BLS and agency resources and increasing near-term budget amounts (authorization: 'such sums as necessary').
Administrative complexity and compliance burdens could rise because phasing payroll-tax rules for high earners and adjusting how SSI/title II interact may create unequal treatment of compensation forms, employer payroll challenges, and program-targeting complications (including possible duplicative benefits).
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Phases down payroll‑tax treatment above the Social Security base, raises and restructures PIA bend points, switches COLAs to a new CPI‑E, alters survivor benefits, and freezes Title II amounts for SSI calculations.
Phases down payroll-tax treatment of earnings above the Social Security contribution base after 2027 while simultaneously raising and restructuring how Social Security benefits are calculated and indexed. It requires a new CPI for elderly consumers, switches Social Security COLAs to that CPI-E index beginning with COLA quarters ending Sept 30, 2027, changes survivor benefit formulas, creates a new “surplus AIME” component with scheduled recomputations of PIAs, and freezes the Title II benefit amount used when determining SSI eligibility and payments as of the day before enactment.