Just Like Everyone Else, Politicians Will Be Able to Get Social Security Benefits for Decades to Come

Washington, DC – Social Security is now in its 77th year of providing economic security to millions of Americans. And as Congress reconvenes this week, the program is sure to be a hotly discussed issue over the course of this session. Recently, some politicians — Governor Rick Perry and Senator Marco Rubio, for example — have claimed that Social Security is bankrupt or that it won’t be there for future generations. A new issue brief from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) clearly demonstrates that Social Security will be able to pay full benefits for all Senators through 2038 and a little over 80 percent of their benefits thereafter, even with no changes to the program at all.

The CEPR issue brief uses projections from the Social Security Trustees Report and the Congressional Budget Office to show the payable Social Security benefit for every Senator in the 112th Congress. In all cases, the Senators will receive a substantial benefit after they retire as long as they live. In Senator Rubio’s case, he would receive a benefit of $41,439 a year if he retires at age 67 in 2038 and $33,151 (both in 2011 dollars) every year from then on for the rest of his life.

The issue brief and table of benefits for U.S. Senators can be found here.