Bessent Testifies on Social Security Shortfalls, Rejects Tax Hikes or Benefit Cuts, Offers 3-3-3 Growth Framework

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testified before Congress on Wednesday that the administration will not raise taxes or cut benefits for seniors facing shortfalls in Social Security and Medicare. Bessent said the United States faces a growth problem and a spending problem rather than a tax-collection problem, and he tied the solution to his 3-3-3 framework of 3 percent annual real growth, deficits at 3 percent of GDP, and an increase of 3 million barrels a day in domestic energy production.

Bessent stated that the framework would stabilize debt at about 100 percent of GDP.

He also said tariff revenue will be unchanged this year and will be unchanged in the future. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) participated in the hearing and noted that 10,000 Baby Boomers enter Social Security every day.

Bessent acknowledged the demographic squeeze but did not present new proposals beyond the growth strategy. He said the administration would "work on anything" to strengthen Social Security except any tax hike or benefit cut. The latest Medicare trustees’ report shows the Hospital Insurance trust fund is projected to be exhausted in 2040, four years earlier than expected just a year ago.

At that point, incoming revenue would cover only about 92 percent of scheduled benefits. The national debt stands at $39 trillion and has almost doubled in roughly a decade. Sen. " Cruz added that for 50 years conservatives have been trying to mimic Australia’s superannuation program, in which employers pay into an employee’s investment fund to be accessed upon retirement.

Bessent has previously criticized the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. " The Peter G. Peterson Foundation and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget have warned that the current trajectory is "unsustainable" without major policy changes.

Social Security’s main trust fund faces its own sizable shortfall under current law.