Social Security Is Running Dangerously Low on Cash
A fund used to support Social Security retirement benefits is expected to expire in 2032, according to a new trustees report released by the Social Security Administration Tuesday.The new expiration date for the Old Age and Survivors Insurance fund, or OASI fund, is three months earlier than what the SSA projected last year. The change comes as a result of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which was passed in July 2025. The bill lowered the ordinary income tax rate on Social Security benefits, which supports the funds.Seventy-one million people receive monthly Social Security payments. The AARP, a nonprofit representing older Americans, determined that Social Security provides 43 percent of seniors with a majority of their income. “Congress needs to act,” AARP CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan wrote in a statement. “Americans have worked hard and paid into Social Security their entire lives, and they deserve to count on it when they retire. No family should see any cuts to what they’ve earned in Social Security.”Social Security isn’t being scrapped anytime soon, but the OASI fund provides it with a serious amount of its money; if the fund is allowed to expire, 12 percent of retirement benefits will be lost. Social Security for one person would be cut $500 per month, on average, and in 29 states, losses would be even greater, according to research from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.Congress can move money around to fill the funding gap and even combine the OASI fund with other funds. But merging funds just means taking money directed toward one set of recipients and giving it to another—certainly not a permanent solution.While Trump has promised both on the campaign trail and in office not to cut Social Security benefits, his largest policy bill is poised to do exactly that. His administration is also pursuing legislation that would cut off disabled Americans from their SNAP benefits, after abandoning similar plans last year due to media backlash.