Social Security is hurtling toward a fiscal cliff that, if left unaddressed, will force an automatic 22% benefit cut for tens of millions of retirees, survivors, and their dependents in just six years.
That’s the stark warning from the release last week of the 2026 Social Security Trustees’ Report. A nonpartisan fiscal watchdog, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), found the program’s financial imbalance has reached its most severe point in nearly 50 years—and that inaction by lawmakers is making a bad situation measurably worse.
