Backed by more than 200 House Democrats, Reps. John Larson (D-CT), Conor Lamb (D-PA) and Jahana Hayes (D-CT) introduced a bill Wednesday that would increase Social Security benefits.
The bill would boost average benefits by 2 percent, The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda reported, raise the income threshold for paying taxes on Social Security benefits, and change to cost-of-living adjustment formula.
The bill also takes steps to provide more funds for the Social Security program, including applying the payroll tax to higher income levels and increasing the contribution rate over time.
Put forward on the birthday of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who created Social Security in 1935, the bill marks quite a shift for mainstream Democrats compared to 10 years ago. HuffPost’s Daniel Marans wrote that, “In less than a decade, mainstream Democrats in Congress have gone from entertaining Social Security cuts to almost universally endorsing the program’s expansion.”
