The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has sounded the alarm once more. The CBO reminds us that the current bipartisan consensus of enacting zero reform to Social Security means that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund program is projected to hit insolvency at the start of fiscal 2032, or in fewer than four years from now (the start of fiscal 2032 is likely the end of calendar year 2031). By law, the OASI trust fund — otherwise known as Social Security’s retirement program in common parlance — is legally prohibited from borrowing by the Social Security Act. Thus, the CBO ascertains that if Washington’s bipartisan consensus gets its way and refuses to raise the retirement age or enact any other embarrassingly overdue reform, federal law automatically mandates that Social Security benefits are slashed across-the-board by 7% in fiscal 2032 and then by an average of 28% annually from fiscal 2033 to fiscal 2036.

Although budget wonks have been warning politicians for decades that Social Security’s looming insolvency has always been inevitable, Washington has actively worsened the program’s financial health. On his way out of the Oval Office, Joe Biden made sure to sign one more insult to the people in the form of the ironically named Social Security Fairness Act. With only 20 brave Republicans willing to vote against the bill, the bipartisan SSFA unilaterally allowed government workers to double-dip into the program, tacking on another $200 billion shortfall to the program overnight. Now, the CBO concedes that the OASI trust fund’s bankruptcy is coming one year earlier than the office projected in 2025.