Social Security Benefits Could Be Expanded to Millions of Americans

President Joe Biden is under pressure to expand Social Security benefits next year, a move that would be popular among voters and could deliver a win to the Democrat as he campaigns for reelection.

More than 66 million Americans rely on Social Security benefits to support themselves financially, including some of the most vulnerable people in the country—those on a low income, people with disabilities and pensioners.

But the Social Security program has been a headache for the federal government and lawmakers, as experts warned that it cannot continue to operate the way it has for the past 88 years—when there were approximately 45 workers to every beneficiary. As the number of beneficiaries has grown and the number of workers has gone down, the system is working on a 3 to 1 ratio, as reported by Forbes.

Analysts suggested that Social Security might go bankrupt in the coming years—which means that the system will be paying more benefits than it is collecting. Experts expect Social Security to deplete its reserve of cash by 2034, after which, unless there's a significant change, the scheme would be able to pay 80 percent of the current benefit schedule.

The problem needs to be solved by Congress, but many Republican lawmakers have opposed moves that might further increase the country's debt.

During Biden's third State of the Union in February, the president accused "some Republicans" of wanting Social Security "to sunset every five years" instead of "making the wealthy pay their fair share."

He said: "If anyone tries to cut Social Security, I will stop them." While the speech prompted complaints from Republican lawmakers, cuts to Social Security were then avoided in the following debt ceiling showdown—delivering an important victory to Biden.

But progressive groups are now urging the president to go further and expand Social Security, as reported by Politico—a move which would grant him the support of older voters in 2024 when Biden is likely to face Donald Trump in a rematch of the 2020 election.

As of November 22, according to FiveThirtyEight, Trump was the frontrunner of the GOP primary with 60.3 percent of the Republican voters' support. As of the same day, Biden's approval rate was 38.9 percent, while a majority of Americans—55 percent—disapproved of his work.

According to what Alex Lawson, executive director of one of the groups advocating for the expansion of the program, Social Security Works, told Politico, the move would allow Biden to gain ground on Republicans, considering the GOP and Trump have put aside the idea of cuts to the scheme.

Newsweek contacted the White House and Social Security Works for comment by email on Thursday.

"The way to get Republicans even more on the back foot about their plans to cut Social Security is to draw that incredibly clear distinction that Democrats want to expand, Republicans want to cut," Lawson said.

Biden had previously talked about expanding Social Security during the 2020 Democratic primary but abandoned the idea as the move would not have received the bipartisan backing to pass through the House and the Senate, the outlet reported.