SSA Benefits and 2032
The 2026 Social Security Trustees report shows that the Old Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund will pay 100% of total benefits until the 4th quarter of 2032. At that time the fund’s reserves will become depleted and continuing income will be sufficient to pay only 78% of total scheduled benefits.
For the 1 in 4 NH residents that collect SSA benefits this is an existential threat. (Not to forget the other 75% of residents that are likely to be impacted by any changes proposed.) Yet I hear nothing from either U.S. Senate candidate, during whose term this issue will have to be addressed, as to what he and his party would do about it. The same could be said of the congressional representative candidates, but with less certainty they would be in office thru the early 2030s.
The sound you hear is the “can being kicked down the road” by Democrats and Republicans alike for the past 30 years. Along with our over $40 trillion debt, we can literally no longer afford to do that. In the few weeks before the election, the press and the people of New Hampshire must ask both Mr. Pappas and Mr. Sununu their views on the subject. They may not yet have the solution but they must be aware of and admit to the crisis and recognize some hard and painful choices are going to have to be made.