On March 25, 2026, the Senate Budget Committee held a hearing called, “Social Security: A Discussion on the Facts and the Path Forward.”

According to the testimony presented to the committee, the combined Social Security trust funds are projected to be depleted in 2034, and the retirement fund itself is projected to be depleted in 2033. At that point, absent changes in law, scheduled benefits would face an automatic reduction.

That's 7 to 8 years away. Everyone in that room understands the math. It's is not a mystery. This is not an ideological debate about whether arithmetic is real. The testimony was very direct. Lawmakers will need to increase program income by about one-third, lower scheduled benefits by about one-fourth, or adopt some combination of the two. Those are not my numbers. Those are the numbers presented in the hearing.

So why is the largest budget line item in government spending getting almost zero news coverage? In the meantime, the news is covering how the B52 is still flying.

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