War. Washington journal starts now. Host washington journal this is this is washington journal for sunday, may 12. The Social Security trust fund is expected to be exhausted in 2035, one year later than previous the projected. After that, the program will not be able to pay full benefits if lawmakers do not act to address the pending shortfalls. What changes to Social Security would you support . If you are under 40, 202 7488000. 40 to 65, 202 7488001. If you are over 65, 202 7488002. If you would like to text us, you can do so at 202 7488003. Be sure to include your name and city. You can also post a question or comment on facebook at facebook. Com cspan or on x at cspanwj. We are going to get your calls and comments in a few minutes, but first joining us to tell us more about the report is personal finance reporter lori cornish. Thanks for joining us. Why dont you start by telling us about the that seems to be making a lot news this week. Guest the funds the combined trust funds for the program are expected to now run out in 2035, one year later than previously projected. We have low unemployment, strong labor growth, and wage growth as well. Those are factors that contribute to people being able to work. When they are working, they are paying into the program, which helps it. Host the depletion date seems to be a moving target. It was pushed back this year. How likely is it to continue happening or even slide backwards . Guest it can slide backwards. That is one thing to watch. So it is not necessarily unexpected that it would be in this range. The key thing to watch is that we are getting closer to this depletion date, which means inevitably something needs to happen or we will face these and if it cuts. Host as of now, if something is not done, what will the cuts look like . Guest if nothing is done, there will be an acrosstheboard benefit cut that will include all beneficiaries. It will not be something you can choose who is the neediest or who can sacrifice some of the income they are receiving. It is imperative that lawmakers look at this beforehand and try to address it so that people do not face income shortfalls. Host what are some of the most probable changes to the program . What is being looked at . Guest there are a lot of changes being talked about. Some of the most popular are raising the maximum taxable earnings, so currently around 168,000 is taxed for Social Security. Unless your earnings are above that, they no longer fall under the purview of Social Security. Maybe higher earners could be paying more into the system. There is the idea that we could raise the retirement age. Some people are working longer. Could they hold off on claiming Social Security benefits . There could be ways of changing the costofliving adjustments every year. Could they be more generous or less generous . These are the kinds of questions lawmakers will look to answer. Host we are nine years out from the projected depletion date. Why is it better that congress act sooner rather than later . Guest the longer they wait, the more dramatic the cuts will have to be. A former Social SecurityAdministration Official was saying under barack obama you could have eliminated the taxable maximum earnings at that time and assault of the problem. Now, that is not enough to take care of the shortfall. There has to be a combination of changes. The longer we wait, the more dramatic they may have to be. People might see changes sooner than they might have liked. Host you mentioned some of the possible changes and ideas being floated. What are the Biggest Challenges to those being lamented implemented . Guest the biggest challenge is getting people to plan their retirement according to the changes. We do not know what will happen. Can you plan to work longer . Can you plan to pay more taxes . These are things people would want to know about beforehand. It is a challenge for lawmakers to address some of these topics. These would wrinkle would require tax increases and maybe benefit cuts and there is not a lot of political appetite to make those kinds of changes. Host thank you for your time this morning. On the house floor this week, a democrat of connecticut, Ranking Member of the ways and means Social Security subcommittee, heres what he said about changes to Social Security. [video clip] i rise today to address the body and discuss the nations number one Antipoverty Program for the elderly and the number one antiproperty program Antipoverty Program for children, Social Security. I know you know this, but can you imagine that congress has not made an adjustment to Social Security and more than 53 years . Richard nixon was president of the United States the last time that congress enhanced benefits for the country. Imagine, mr. Speaker. Im sure for people in our audience that 10,000 baby boomers a day become eligible for Social Security and, as you know, the fund is about to be cut by 20 . In two ways. If congress does nothing by 20 34, according to the latest report, it will be cut 20 , so basically the nations number one Antipoverty Program for the elderly will be cut by 20 if congress does nothing, and it has not done anything in more than 50 years. Host we are taking your calls on what changes to Social Security you would support. The phone lines are 202 7488000 if you are under 40. 202 7488001 for 40 to 65. If you are over 65, 202 7488002. We will go to greg in new york on the under 40 line. Good morning. Do we have greg . Caller Vice President ial candidate for the Trump Campaign due to censorship and establishment issues. Lets touch upon Social Security, a great concept that has helped so Many Americans get over the finish line into their golden years, but so Many Americans have worked so hard they have not been able to collect Social Security. How do we find balance between people that never achieved that type of status and people that do . We can look at the border wall. If we look at the border wall and say, quite a few miles of border wall there, we could put solar panels on the border wall and then all of a sudden we have new revenue coming into the government. We end migratory issues with respect to mexico and now the barrier to entry for latin american citizens and american citizens to participate in the economy, not only the north American Economy but the south American Economy, has now been increased in such a way that now people have the same opportunity. So isolate opportunity exists between latin america and north america, then you create the type of dynamic that were assuaged with the Trump Campaign and worked over through the Trump Campaign and put america in a better position. It is how we utilize solutions that have been overlooked. When i say value censorship, i mean warren buffett, fusion gps. Host we will go to dorothy in virginia on the over 65 line. Caller good morning. Im calling about the Social Security problem that could be solved very easily. You take the cap off of Social Security. The wealthy that have achieved so much in this country off the back of the working poor. If you remove that cap, that will secure Social Security into the next millennium and further. I have worked since i was 14 years old. I am 78 now. My father signed for me to work after school when i was in high school. I worked until i was 69 years old and only stopped working because of health issues, which i still have and made it impossible for me to work. Im living on just Social Security. I never had a 401 k . They did not exist when i started working. There are thousands of people in this country barely existing on Social Security alone. It is a crime to me that the wealthy in this country are not paying their fair share. If we think the older people in this country now that are hurting, if trump gets into office and they do the republicans do cut our Social Security, we are going we will die because we will not even be able to eat. Host dorothy mentioning removing income tax caps. According to the American Academy of actuaries, some of the proposals to changes to Social Security under tax increases, eliminating taxable minimum so all earnings are taxed got tax all earnings above 400,000 dollars or make 90 of all earnings subject to the payroll tax, increase the payroll tax rate by 25 , and tax investment income. And gifts and earnings such as interest. Also under their proposal our benefit cuts and reduced benefits for high income individuals who have not yet claimed full retirement age and reduce the annual costofliving adjustment. We are talking about what changes you would support to Social Security. We will go to joseph in Virginia Beach on the 40 to 65 line. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I think we have a problem in our country. People do not really understand what is going on. With republicans and trump just offering billionaires all these promises that he is probably going to give them where they do not have to pay the taxes that they deserve to. They have to take care of our country too. I pay taxes. I am also retired, but i work part time. Disabled somewhat. I like to host what would you like to see done . What changes would you like to see to Social Security . Caller i would like to see the billionaires pay their taxes and that would put a lot more money in our coffers to take care of Social Security. Host marianne in ohio. Caller i want i went and heard Mathew Desmond speak last tuesday night. He is the Pulitzer Prizewinning novelist for the book evicted. He talked about poverty in america. One of the things he said is that, first, we do not have to raise taxes on anybody. He said what we need to do is just get the wealthy to pay their fair share. That would solve the poverty problem in this country. Another thing he pointed out was we have one of the highest rates of poverty in all western countries. If you go to europe their taxes are higher and it shows because they do not have the poverty problems we have. Another thing is i am also i was a Government Employee so i do not have Social Security. I have a government pension and i do not understand my government pension is very good and what i make per month on that benefit is higher than people make on Social Security. I do not understand why people cannot have what i have. Host amy in new york on the 40 to 65 line. Caller i have always said we should tax all earnings. Every year, they look at what i make and add a few thousand more and make that the limit, so im saying why am i paying the same amount to Social Security as people making a huge amount . When i hear the politicians, they talk about raising the retirement age or means testing. I think that is wrong because everybody has put money in. Everybody should be able to get that benefit out. The other point is my husband passed away at 66. He was still working and he paid into Social Security his whole life. I was given a 100 death benefit and told i could collect Social Security when i turned a certain age for a few years so everything he put in is now in the coffers for everyone else. Definitely taxing all earnings i think would be the fair thing to do. Host phil in North Carolina. Caller i am in favor of eliminating the wage cap. To heck with increasing the amount. All income should be taxable, especially on so many billionaires out there, especially professional athletes. There is no reason why they should not pay the same for all their income at the same rate that we all have to pay. I am 76 now. If i live to 20 35, that will be a crusher. We should eliminate any effort by the government to siphon money out of the fund to support other programs and i am also in favor of eliminating any contributions to welfare programs that do not affect income. There are so many programs out there that are siphoning money off the retirement benefit that was originally planned for. That is all i have to say. Host in march on the program, the National Committee to preserve Social Security joined us and explained the process and what happens to money paid into the program. I think the answer to shore up the program is to bring more revenue to it. Let me explain something. Right now, if you pay if your income is 168 thousand 600 a year, you are paying 6. 2 of your income toward Social Security. Lets say your income is above that. Lets say you are a wealthy ceo theres a good chance you are paying a smaller percentage of your income toward retirement, probably stopping paying your payroll taxes in january or february because of that, so that is important. In terms of the program, the program has never been rated. That notion comes from the way it is financed. It is a payasyougo system the way it is financed. Workers are paying for tyrees. The way that is done is when you make your contribution with your taxes toward Social Security, that money goes to the government. The government takes that money and buys a u. S. Treasury security that earns interest and when it is time to pay benefits that Treasury Security is redeemed for cash. Then it goes to pay methods, but in that transaction in which they take your money and use it to buy Treasury Security, that goes to every function that the government pays for, paying for fighters, submarines, meals on wheels. Eventually, that money comes back to the people who put it in. Host lets hear from vanessa on the 40 to 65 line. Caller thank you for taking my call. My opinion on it is i agree with what most of the people are saying. Social security should not be cap to because i want before i retired, i wanted to make six figures. Did not make it. I had other employees that were making more than that and they stopped paying Social Security taxes. Why . Then the thing that really bothered me was they tax me, they take my Social Security on money i make, and when i got it they tax it again. That is ridiculous. I have been working for 45 years before i retired. Now, when i finally got my Social Security, now i find out it is taxable . I think Social Security should be taxed on every dollar that you make. I do not care whether it is 100,000 or 1 million. Everyone should pay into Social Security and they should not take anything out of it because we paid for it with the expectation that we will get the money back when we retire and now youre going to change the rules . I do not think that is fair. We have billions of dollars to buy bombs to kill people in other countries but we do not have enough money to pay people that shipped into Social Security for all these years . That is my opinion. We should not have a cap on Social Security. Host james in new york city on the over 65 line. Good morning. Caller they have in about this for years, and stilling this fear. Paul ryan, the republicans i hate to make it political, but that is all they want to do. They want to get rid of Social Security. Rick scott wants to get rid of Social Security and sunset it. Johnson from wisconsin. That is all they want to do. It goes back to fdr. I will make it simple. I have worked a lot of jobs. I started working when i was eight years old as an actor. I still have the original Social Security card. When you pay into the system, guess what . When you reach of age you get paid. I know lots of people. I have had many different jobs because as an actor you had to work. Sometimes i would work, sometimes i would not. There were people working off the books. I know one guy who was working cleaning houses, very wealthy, but everything was off the books. Once he became of age, he was getting 800 dollars a month from Social Security. You know why . He did not pay into the system. I get 1900 per month. I paid into the system. If you are not getting enough, those people are being paid off the books. Host what would you support . Caller first, the money put into the system should not be touched. The government has no problem with spending about a trillion dollars every year for the pentagon and militaryindustrial complex. Keep it and leave it alone. The republicans have been touching it. They want to get rid of it. They want to get rid of medi