Bernie Sanders said on November 7 that expanding Social Security benefits by at least $2,400 a year will be a top priority as he prepares to take over a leading Senate role on the issue. He said the increase would be paired with a push to make wealthy Americans pay more into the program.
The plan is built around the Social Security Expansion Act, which would raise benefits for current and future recipients by $2,400 a year, or $200 a month. Sanders is expected to become chair of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Social Security when the new Congress convenes in January, succeeding Chuck Grassley and giving him a larger platform for the proposal.
Sanders has tied the idea to a simple argument: strengthen Social Security by asking higher earners to contribute more, rather than cutting benefits or raising the retirement age. Under the bill, income above $250,000 would face additional Social Security taxation, a change aimed at bringing in more money from wealthy households while lifting monthly checks for retirees.
The pressure behind the proposal is real. Social Security is projected to be able to pay only 78 percent of scheduled benefits in late 2032 if Congress does not act, a shortfall that would amount to a potential 22 percent cut. Alex Beene said the trust fund’s depletion is still an estimated six years away, a reminder that the program’s financing problem is not immediate, but it is closing in.
That is the gap Sanders is trying to exploit politically and legislatively. The bill was introduced in 2025 with Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats, but there is no sign yet that it has advanced far enough to guarantee passage. What happens next depends on whether Sanders can turn the new chairmanship into momentum for a plan that raises benefits now while forcing Congress to confront how to pay for them.
