U.S. lawmakers clash over ways to extend Social Security funding

With the Social Security Trust Fund insolvency date looming, a congressional committee discussed creating a basic procedural framework to address the thorny issue at a Wednesday hearing.

Social Security’s insolvency will automatically trigger an estimated 22% to 28% benefit cut in 2032 — the equivalent of deducting $500, on average, from every monthly check.

Rather than agree on a basic plan to proceed, however, Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee instead sparred over specific policy ideas, including whether to establish an advisory commission to help Congress tackle insolvency.

Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., claimed that Republicans’ commission idea is “designed to smuggle in benefit cut plans with minimal public scrutiny or debate.”

“I want to work on a bipartisan basis to fix this problem … We can do that by updating Soc...