The Timeline to Sweeping Social Security Benefits Cuts Is Likely Being Accelerated by 3 of President Donald Trump's Policies

Social Security's Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund, which pays retired workers and survivor beneficiaries, is forecast to exhaust its asset reserves by the fourth quarter of 2032.

Two of Donald Trump's policies are fattening Social Security's annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) -- but larger payouts come at a potentially steep cost to the program.

Additionally, President Trump's flagship tax and spending law is weighing on Social Security's primary source of funding.

For the better part of the last nine decades, Social Security has played a foundational role for retirees. Annual surveys by national pollster Gallup show that up to 90% of retirees rely on their monthly payout, in some capacity, to make ends meet.

But the financial outlook for this vital program has been deteriorating since the mid-1980s. The annually released Social Security Board of Trustees Report is forecasting a $29.3 trillion unfunded obligation through the year 2100.

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Worse yet, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund (OASI), which doles out monthly benefits to retired workers and survivors of deceased workers, is projected to exhaust its asset reserves by the fourth quarter of 2032. Once this excess income collected since inception is gone, sweeping benefit cuts of up to 22% are expected.

President Trump's policies have shifted Social Security's solvency needle in the wrong direction. Image source: Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok.