Social Security Trustees Have Warned Congress for 24 Years

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Since 2002, the Social Security Trustees have explicitly warned Congress in every annual report to act sooner rather than later to fix the program's funding shortfall, noting that early action would allow changes to be phased in gradually and give workers time to adjust. Those warnings have been signed by the Secretaries of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services under each successive administration — and ignored for 24 years. The author also notes that no public trustees (independent citizen overseers required by law) have been appointed since 2010, and that the law provides no penalty for that lapse, meaning the oversight mechanism has simply gone unenforced. For anyone planning retirement income around Social Security, this pattern of inaction is a reminder that the program's long-term solvency remains unresolved.