Raising the Social Security retirement age to help improve the program’s increasingly troubled finances has grabbed headlines this week after comments made — and then clarified — by Frank Bisignano, the Social Security commissioner.
In a Fox Business interview on Sept. 18, Bisignano said “everything’s being considered” or “will be considered” with respect to bolstering the program, having been asked whether raising the full retirement age could be a possibility.
Bisignano added that coming generations will probably have “a different set of rules” than current retirees. Later the day, however, Bisignano posted a clarification on X.
“Let me be clear: President [Donald] Trump and I will always protect, and never cut, Social Security,” Bisignano wrote. “Raising the retirement age is not under consideration.”
Andrew Biggs, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a former deputy Social Security commissioner, said that the “generic” nature of Bisignano’s comments in both the Fox Business interview and afterward on social media were telling.
“He gave a generic answer — that everything’s being considered,” Biggs observed. “Then the interviewer stuck in the retirement age issue. It’s not like he brought it up on his own. His later clarification reflects Trump’s long-standing position of ‘no cuts.’”
Biggs said the apparent “back-and-forth” is beside the point.
“The reality is that nothing is being considered,” Biggs said. “Unless there’s some deep secret I’m unaware of, Social Security reform isn’t even on the administration's radar screen. Unless the trust fund happens to run dry during Trump’s term, they won’t do anything.”
If the fund were to run dry, due for example to an extended recession, Biggs anticipates that Congress and the president would borrow the money to make up the difference.
“It's not just an issue for the Trump administration, much as I wish it were,” Biggs said.
Martha Shedden, president and co-founder of the National Association of Registered Social Security Analysts, agreed that imminent reforms are unlikely. She noted that Bisignano’s affirmations that the program will be “protected” are important, though, and she believes that the political risk involved with significant Social Security cuts for current or near-retirees makes that outcome highly unlikely.
“I am very hopeful for the long-term outlook of Social Security,” Shedden said. “I encourage younger generations to become informed advocates for this social insurance program. It provides disability insurance, life insurance, medical insurance, and of course, insurance of loss of income in retirement.”
As to what it will take to get reforms over the line, Shedden said, a playbook of sorts is in place.
“There will not be only one rule change made, such as raising the full retirement age,” Shedden predicted. “As in 1983, there must be a bipartisan group that agrees on a combination of changes to several rules that work together to address the issue. The group must include individuals who have historical, institutional knowledge of Social Security’s complexities, economics and actuarial data.”
Shedden noted that this is the preferred public approach, citing a survey published early this year by the National Association of Social Insurance, AARP, the National Institute on Retirement Security and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“Unlike many public opinion research surveys, this one included a trade-off analysis to capture a more holistic picture of Americans’ views on how lawmakers should address the program’s finances,” Shedden observed. “It shows Americans want to strengthen the program’s finances by raising revenues, and they prefer a package of changes that eliminates the financing gap and makes targeted improvements to benefits.”
Americans rely on Social Security as an important — if not the most important — part of their retirement security, Biggs and Shedden emphasized.
“They want the program to not only continue, but be improved, and they are willing to pay more to achieve this,” Shedden said.
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