Election Time: The #1 Question You Should Be Asking the Candidates

June 23, 2026 — While politicians like to tell you what they think you want to hear, now it’s time for you to be the proactive one. Tell them what YOU really want! That leads us to the #1 question everyone, even people are far away from retirement, should be asking of any candidate who is asking you for your vote: What are you going to do to fix Social Security from cutting my benefits by 20% or so in 2032?

More bad news came out last week about your Social Security benefits. Instead of the Trust Funds running out of money in 2033, it is now expected to go bust in 2032. That means your benefits will be cut 20% just 6 short years from now.

The Social Security benefits cuts are not a new problem. It has been building for decades as hordes of baby boomers start taking their benefits, and contributions from a smaller group of younger workers are not enough to keep the trust funds solvent. Compounding the problem to some degree is the effect of a declining number of illegal immigrants, who typically pay into the system for decades but are unable to collect. As they go into hiding, self-deport, or go into detention centers, those payments disappear.

Despite knowing about the looming deficit for so long, most national political leaders have ignored the problem. They might say they are going after fraud, or even cut benefits, or change the COLA model. But most experts agree those ideas are mere window dressing that will not solve the underlying problem – there is not enough revenue coming in to cover the popular program’s costs.

Fortunately, two brave leaders, one from each party, have come out with a realistic plan to finally solve the problem. See Bernie Moren and Elizabeth Warren: Our Plan to Save Social Security. Sen. Warren (D-VT) and Sen Moren (R-Ohio) have proposed a simple solution, one that has been around a long time. It is to eliminate the cap on earnings that are taxed by FICA. For 2026, the payroll tax cap, or taxable maximum, is $184,500. All income over is not taxed for Social Security. If it was, that change alone would probably be enough to right the Social Security ship.

Democratic Congressman Larsen from Connecticut has proposed a similar solution for many years, but it has gone nowhere. Listen to him grill the Social Security Commissioner on this issue. Hopefully there will be enough elected officials who are willing to stick their neck out to solve the problem in the next Congress. According to the Times, “tne 2025 poll found that 65 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of Republicans support lifting the cap.” Yet Congress does nothing.

Ask This Question!

The November elections for your Congressional representative and Senator are about to go full on. So now is the perfect time to ask the question of the candidates: What concrete steps are you going to take to fix Social Security so my benefits aren’t cut by 20% in 2032? Further, do you support removing the earnings cap for Social Security taxes? If they say they want to cut fraud and waste instead, ask them to document how much of that there is (not much, and certainly not enough to solve the problem).

How can you ask? The candidates are starting to hit the campaign trail, coming to a place near you. If you go to see them, speak up. It is your livelihood that is affected. If you can’t meet them in person, call or email their campaign headquarters or congressional offices (phone calls probably have more impact). Just Google “who is my Congressman/Senator to find out who to contact.

If you don’t ask. Social Security isn’t called the third rail of politics for nothing. If your leaders think no one cares about, they aren’t going to touch it! Only if they hear from enough voters will they get off their lazy butts and do something to fix the problem.

Here’s what Paul Krugman has to say about the subject (we agree):

“So don’t believe Republicans’ gaslighting that it will be necessary to cut Social Security benefits. All that is necessary to preserve Social Security is political will to raise taxes on the wealthy and a sensible immigration policy.”