The trust fund that supplements Social Security payments for around 63 million Americans is projected to run dry by late 2032, prompting warnings from US lawmakers that benefit cuts are looming unless Congress acts. Because the programme now pays out more in benefits than it collects in payroll taxes, the shortfall has been covered by a separate reserve fund, but that buffer cannot sustain the gap indefinitely, and politicians on both sides say responsibility for fixing it will likely fall to the next president and Congress rather than the current administration.

The Social Security Board of Trustees' latest annual report brought forward its depletion estimate, with last year's figures showing the retirement fund taking in $1.2 trillion in payroll taxes against $1.4 trillion paid out in benefits. The Committee for a Responsible Budget estimates that if insolvency hits, average monthly benefit cuts would exceed $500 in 29 states, with Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Utah and Washington among the hardest hit. Trustees attribute the accelerating decline to falling fertility rates, reduced immigration and the effects of President Trump's recent tax legislation, while lawmakers including Representatives Steve Womack and Brendan Boyle, and Senator Tim Kaine, have urged that a solution be developed now rather than waiting until the crisis hits.