Senior Citizens’ Freedom to Work Act of 2026
Sponsored By: Representative Murphy, Gregory F. [R-NC-3]
Introduced
Summary
Would repeal the retirement earnings test that reduces Social Security retirement benefits when beneficiaries earn money. The bill would remove key parts of section 203 of the Social Security Act and make matching edits across Social Security law and the Railroad Retirement Act so earnings no longer cut benefits, applying to taxable years ending after December 31, 2026.
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- Older workers and current retirees who earn wages would no longer face automatic reductions to their Social Security retirement payments when they work. This makes it easier to combine work and benefits without losing payments.
- Railroad retirement beneficiaries are treated similarly because the bill removes parallel deductions in the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 and makes conforming edits to related sections.
- Supplemental Security Income and benefit computations are updated. The bill revises how "wages" are counted, clarifies treatment of certain retirement payments and U.S. work abroad, and adjusts benefit-year and rounding rules to reflect the repeal.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
No earnings penalties for Social Security
This bill would repeal the Social Security "earnings test" that reduced retirement benefits when beneficiaries kept working. If enacted, retired workers who keep earning would no longer see statutory reductions to their Social Security checks for those earnings. The repeal would take effect for taxable years ending after December 31, 2026. If you get Social Security and work after starting benefits, your monthly benefit would no longer be cut because of your earnings.
Railroad retirement work deductions removed
If enacted, the bill would remove statutory deductions in the Railroad Retirement Act that cut benefits because of work. The change would apply for taxable years ending after December 31, 2026. If you get railroad retirement and your monthly benefit was reduced for earnings, those statutory reductions would stop for the years covered. The exact dollar change would depend on how much you earn.
New SSI wage counting rules
The bill would change how wages count for Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Wages would be defined using title II rules but without some statutory limits, certain U.S. work and active military service abroad could be counted differently, and some retirement-related payments would not count as wages. These changes would apply for taxable years ending after December 31, 2026. If enacted, some SSI recipients could see higher countable earned income (which would lower SSI), while others could see retirement payments excluded (which could raise SSI).
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Murphy, Gregory F. [R-NC-3]
NC • R
Cosponsors
Van Duyne
TX • R
Sponsored 4/16/2026
Rep. Tenney, Claudia [R-NY-24]
NY • R
Sponsored 4/16/2026
Rep. Smucker, Lloyd [R-PA-11]
PA • R
Sponsored 4/16/2026
Rep. Harshbarger, Diana [R-TN-1]
TN • R
Sponsored 4/16/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov