People walk outside the U.S Capitol building in Washington, June 9, 2022. Credit: Patrick Semansky / AP

Social Security is going broke. If nothing is done, there will be automatic 24% Social Security benefit cuts for all seniors in nine years. Unfortunately, there’s been a lot of inaccurate information in the press.

The biggest threat to Social Security is those that pledge to do nothing. Inaction is irresponsible.

I have been working on a proposal with Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, to address the third rail of politics. We’ve engaged a double-digit bipartisan group of senators to have a thoughtful discussion on the future of Social Security.

Some have reported that it increases the federal retirement age to 70. Let me set the record straight: this is not true. No final decisions have been made on our proposal, but I can say none of the options change the retirement age for current seniors or anyone within decades of retirement.

Sen. King and I are leading an honest discussion to preserve and protect the retirement benefits Americans have earned. He’s been an ideal partner in taking on this enormous issue, because he’s solutions-focused and open to good ideas, regardless of who comes up with them.

Let’s not let disinformation on the retirement age get in the way of action.

We need a solution to avoid cuts to Social Security across the board. It is not going away and the problem only gets worse as time goes on.

It’s easy for politicians to criticize responsible solutions without their own proposal, but no one should be fine with a 24% benefit cut.

We’re working on a real solution to avert that cut.

Sen. Bill Cassidy

Louisiana