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WASHINGTON — Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) called on House leadership to advance legislation that would strengthen Social Security and increase benefits. In a new letter to Speaker Pelosi, the CPC Chair advocates for H.R.5723, Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust to be quickly brought to the floor for passage in the House of Representatives. 

The bill makes a number of urgently needed improvements to the program, including increasing retirement, disability, and dependent benefits; protecting against inflation; removing penalties against dual-income households; ending the five-month waiting period for disability benefits; repealing provisions that lessen benefits for public servants, including teachers; providing caregiver credits; and extending benefits to students. The legislation also protects the program to ensure it can continue supporting Americans long into the future by establishing a Social Security Trust Fund and extending its solvency.

Crucially, Rep. Jayapal writes, these improvements are “paid for by making millionaires and billionaires pay the same rate as everyone else by ensuring the payroll tax is applied to wages above $400,000.”

“Since the advent of Social Security,” she writes, “Democrats have worked steadfastly for nearly a century to build  on that landmark achievement and create a more just society, guaranteeing a life of dignity to our seniors. Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust upholds this tradition.”

The Progressive Caucus has long advocated for protecting and expanding Social Security, including naming it as a priority in the CPC’s “People’s Budget” for more than a decade, advocating for the essential role Social Security plays in advancing both economic and disability justice. As Chair Jayapal emphasized in the letter, “This bill’s rapid adoption by the House of Representatives will demonstrate Democrats’ commitment to furthering the legacy of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and strengthening the most important anti-poverty program in America’s history.”