It's Official: Donald Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" Will Deplete Social Security Funds Faster

Key Points

• Social Security's retirement program trust fund is on track to run out of money in 2033.

• Trump's One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act will accelerate this timeline.

• If nothing is done, Social Security benefits could be slashed by 23% when the trust fund is depleted.

• The $23,760 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook ›

President Donald Trump signed his "One, Big, Beautiful Bill" into law on July 4, 2025. But as 19th century author Margaret Wolfe Hungerford wrote, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Not everyone views the president's new law favorably.

Even while the bill was making its way through Congress, opponents said it would cause the Social Security trust funds to run out of money sooner than projected. Their warnings appear to have been correct. It's official: Donald Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" will deplete Social Security's funds faster.

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Social Security's ticking time bomb

To be clear, President Trump isn't single-handedly causing Social Security to become insolvent. That horse had already left the barn.

Since 2021, the costs of Social Security's retirement program, which is also known as Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI), have exceeded its income each year. This income comes from FICA taxes that fund both Social Security and Medicare. However, the trend of increased benefits began years earlier.

To continue paying benefits, the Social Security retirement program is drawing money from the OASI Trust Fund. As of the end of 2024, this trust fund had roughly $1.22 trillion. That's a lot of money, but the Social Security program's trustees' latest projection is that the fund will run out of money in 2034.

Meanwhile, the Social Security disability program isn't in danger of insolvency. It has its own separate trust fund. However, many predict that Congress will raid the trust fund for money to help fund the Social Security retirement program when its trust fund is depleted. This move won't delay the inevitable for long, though. The Social Security trustees' June 2025 report projected that the combined trust funds will be exhausted in 2033.

Trump's bill has accelerated the timeline

On Aug. 5, 2025, Karen Glenn, Chief Actuary for the Social Security Administration (SSA), responded in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden's request for an estimate of the financial effects on the Social Security trust funds of President Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill." Her findings confirmed what opponents had predicted: Trump's bill has accelerated the timeline for Social Security's trust funds being depleted.

Glenn noted that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will make permanent the lower income tax rates and adjusted tax brackets originally enacted under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed by Trump in his first presidential term. She pointed out that the new law also temporarily increases the standard tax deduction amounts for individuals ages 65 and older and includes a few other changes that should affect Social Security.

The problem is that these provisions reduce the revenue flowing into Social Security beginning this year. And that means that more money must be withdrawn from the trust fund to pay retirement benefits.

The SSA estimates that Trump's new law will cost the Social Security retirement program $168.6 billion between 2025 and 2034, according to Glenn. Most importantly, she wrote to Wyden that the OASI Trust Fund will run out of money in late 2032 instead of early 2033. Glenn said that the combined Social Security trust funds would be exhausted in the first quarter of 2034 rather than the third quarter of 2034.

Should retirees worry?

When the Social Security trust funds run out of money, benefits could be slashed by 23%. Should retirees worry about this scenario -- especially now that it could happen sooner than projected? Probably not.

Members of Congress know that allowing steep benefit cuts to go into effect would be disastrous politically. Several potential solutions to Social Security's financial challenges have been floated in recent years. There's a good chance that one or more of these proposed changes will be adopted to bolster Social Security before the trust funds are depleted.

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