Folks born in 1960 face a social safety catastrophe attributable to COVID-19 – until Congress corrects it

The action part is simple. Rep. John Larson, a Connecticut Democrat, has bills to fix this, a bill that has been circulating since July. It’s an elegant solution that not only ensures that the performance cuts don’t happen this time, but also that they can’t happen again. It just ensures that the average wage index never falls below the previous year’s level. This protects retirees from all major economic downturns.

With the year legally coming to an end, Larson is pushing for his fix to be added to year-end expenses and for social security benefits to increase. “Some say we cannot afford to protect and expand social security now amid a global pandemic,” he wrote in a comment on The Hill. “However, those most affected by the pandemic – the elderly, people of color, and especially women of color – are the same those most in need of social security and desperately need a temporary increase in the emergency benefit.”

This is in anticipation of next year when he promises to introduce a revised version of the Security Act 2100 to expand social security and ensure its solvency for at least the next 75 years. This is a fight for next year. Right now, it’s important that Congress ensures that all people unlucky enough to be born in 1960 are not arbitrarily punished a second time – and for their entire retirement – from the pandemic.