Your Social Security benefits could be at risk, and a new dispute in Washington may determine how steep the losses become for millions of retirees.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a letter to President Donald Trump on June 14, pressing for answers on the Social Security retirement age.
The letter, cosigned by Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), gives the White House until June 29 to respond.
The inquiry arrives days after the Social Security Administration (SSA) published its 2026 Trustees Report, which painted a more urgent picture of the program’s finances.
Warren is asking whether the administration is weighing a change that could slash monthly retirement checks for tens of millions of current and future beneficiaries.
Social Security’s retirement fund faces tighter deadline
The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund will deplete its reserves in the fourth quarter of 2032, one quarter earlier than previously projected.
That timeline puts the program just six years from running out of money to pay full benefits, the Social Security Administration confirmed.
Once reserves run out, incoming payroll tax revenue would cover only 78% of scheduled benefits for the more than 62 million retirees and survivors who receive OASI payments.
The Bipartisan Policy Center attributed much of the accelerated timeline to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which cut income tax revenue flowing into the trust fund.
In an Aug. 5, 2025, letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), SSA Chief Actuary Karen Glenn estimated the legislation would increase Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program costs by $168.6 billion over calendar years 2025 through 2034.
Warren cites a sustained pattern of signals from White House officials
In her letter to the White House, Warren documented what she described as repeated signals from administration officials suggesting the retirement age is being reconsidered, despite the president’s public pledges.
“I think everything’s being considered, will be considered,” SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano told Fox Business in September 2025, when asked about raising the retirement age.
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He reversed course hours later, posting on social media that raising the retirement age “is not under consideration,” The Hill reported.
In February 2026, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz suggested Americans should consider working longer before claiming their retirement benefits, the Washington Post reported.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told “The Moon Griffon Show” on June 8 that entitlement programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, have to be adjusted and that Republicans have “a plan to do that next year.”
Warren noted that President Trump has yet to respond to a similar letter she and six other Democratic senators sent in September 2025 about the same set of concerns.
A 2-year retirement age increase could cost up to 35%
Full retirement age is currently 67 for Americans born in 1960 or later, with benefits reduced for anyone who claims before reaching that threshold, according to the SSA.
Max Richtman, CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, told CBS News that raising the retirement age will negatively impact retirees for generations.
Raising the retirement age is an effective cut in lifetime benefits for younger Baby Boomers, members of Gen X and all the generations after.
A Center for American Progress analysis estimates that a two-year increase would cut the median monthly benefit by $345 to $741.
The Warren letter frames the figures as a 17% to 35% reduction, with lower-income seniors facing the biggest impact because of their greater dependence on the program.
The White House responds, but AARP and policy experts push back
The White House offered a broad response when asked about whether raising the retirement age is part of the administration’s plans for the program.
“President Trump will always protect and strengthen Social Security,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston told CNBC in an email response last week.
The administration did not directly address Warren’s specific questions about the retirement age or respond publicly to the June 14 letter.
Nancy LeaMond, AARP’s executive vice president and chief advocacy and engagement officer, drew a firm line on the issue during a May 28 media briefing.
LeaMond said during the briefing that AARP “opposes any changes that cut Americans’ Social Security payments, including raising the retirement age.”
Joel Eskovitz, senior director of Social Security and savings at AARP’s Public Policy Institute, provided additional context during a virtual briefing hosted by the National Academy of Social Insurance, reported by CNBC.
Eskovitz noted that when Congress last changed the retirement age, the adjustment took decades to phase in gradually before affecting retirees in any significant way.
Competing proposals leave the path forward unclear
Warren and other Senate Democrats, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), have proposed the Social Security Expansion Act as an alternative to benefit cuts.
The bill would restore 75 years of solvency by extending payroll taxes to earnings above $250,000 and broadening the net investment income tax.
That proposal has been stalled in the Senate Finance Committee since February 2025, and it would require Republican support to advance through Congress.
Republicans have largely opposed tax increases as part of any Social Security reform package, leaving the two sides far apart on a bipartisan solution.
A 2025 survey by the National Academy of Social Insurance, AARP, the National Institute on Retirement Security, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that Americans broadly oppose benefit reductions.
With the trust fund expected to run out in six years and lawmakers divided on a solution, the issue remains critical for current and future retirees.
Related: Social Security’s funds will run out sooner than expected
