Social Security in 2025: Today marks the 89th anniversary of one of the most significant and influential laws in American history. On August 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law.
This landmark legislation established a federal system designed to greatly improve the lives of retirees, disabled individuals, dependents, and families who lost a wage earner, providing them with crucial support for food, shelter, and healthcare. Currently, over 2.2 million North Carolinians—more than one in five residents of the state—benefit from this essential program.
While commemorating Social Security and the achievements of the hundreds of thousands of public servants who have made the system function remarkably well over nearly nine decades is always a worthwhile endeavour, it feels particularly appropriate in light of the current national political discourse.
Social Security in 2025: What will happen?
Project 2025, a 922-page blueprint for a new conservative White House created by the far-right Heritage Foundation, has generated significant controversy. According to NC Newsline, Project 2025 outlines a strategy to reverse decades of progress through a policy agenda rooted in a limited and extreme form of religious conservatism. This plan impacts various areas including the economy, human equality, and the environment.
Social Security is also one of the main objectives of the plan’s proponents.
The two most recent budget proposals from conservative U.S. House Republicans both sought to raise the Social Security retirement age from 67 to 69. Project 2025 authors have endorsed and supported plans to cut Social Security by raising the retirement age.
The Center for American Progress’s analysts have determined that should the Heritage Foundation’s suggested modifications be implemented, North Carolinians will suffer grave consequences:
- Raising the retirement age for 7,847,880 persons, or around 73% of the state’s population.
- Reducing payments by $4,100 to $8,900 in just one year, contingent upon the time of Social Security claim submission.
- Resulting in a $46,000–$100,000 loss for the retiree with a median salary over ten years.
This anniversary and the threat the national conservative movement poses to Social Security’s future are particularly relevant to discuss in North Carolina today, as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will be in Asheville— somewhat ironically, at an arena named after a casino— to talk about, according to his campaign, the cost of living.
It is hoped that attendees will have the chance to ask about how potential Social Security cuts could affect the living standards of millions of households.
Despite his denials, Trump has strong connections with the Heritage Foundation’s leaders, and several former staff members and prominent Republicans who were involved in drafting Project 2025 have ties to him. Additionally, during his first term, Trump attempted to cut Social Security and referred to the program as “a Ponzi scheme.”
