The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) has a ticker on its website: The Retirement Trust Fund Countdown. At the time of writing, it stands at six years, seven months, five days, seven hours, 28 minutes, and 11 seconds.
This, the CRFB says, is when the Social Security program’s funds will be exhausted, and cuts to services would ensue. Medicare has a similar insolvency clock, due to wind down a little over a month before Social Security.
These clocks represent a problem for Congress. Not for the senators of today, but for the class that will follow them. Some 33 senators will see their terms expiring in early January 2027, with their seats up for election later this year.
They, or their replacements, will hold the seats for the next six years: meaning the deadline to fix the funding for mandatory budget expenditures like Social Security and Medicare will fall squarely into their laps.
