Safeguarding American Families and Expanding Social Security Act of 2026
Sponsored By: Representative Simon, Lateefah [D-CA-12]
Introduced
Summary
Rewrites how earnings above the Social Security contribution and benefit base count for taxes and benefits. This bill would phase in a new taxable share for high earnings, change the Primary Insurance Amount formula, recompute some existing benefits, and move COLAs to an elderly-focused price index.
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- Workers and self-employed people: Would treat an "applicable percentage" of wages and net self-employment income above the contribution base as taxable for Social Security, starting at 80% in 2026 and stepping down to 0% by 2030. This changes how much high earners owe in Social Security payroll taxes.
- Future beneficiaries: Would raise the lowest wage factor used in the Primary Insurance Amount calculation to 95% and would count 5% of surplus earnings toward benefits. Those changes reshape how initial benefits are computed for people becoming eligible after 2030.
- Current beneficiaries and COLAs: Would require recomputations for people who became eligible before 2026 with a recomputation effective January 2026. It would also switch cost-of-living adjustments to the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers, with COLA rules applying to determinations ending after September 30, 2026.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Higher Social Security benefits for many
If enacted, the bill would change how the Social Security primary insurance amount (PIA) is calculated. For people who first become eligible in 2026 the first PIA bend point would be fixed at $6,300; for later initial eligibles it would be indexed to wages and, for those first eligible after 2030, receive staged increases. For people who first become eligible after 2030 the PIA would use 95% (up from 90%) on the lowest portion of earnings and would add a new component equal to 5% of "surplus AIME" (earnings above the base, adjusted by a wage index). The bill would also require recomputing some pre-2026 PIAs effective January 2026 by multiplying a prior sub-calculation by 6,300/6,002 and using the higher of original or recomputed amounts after specified rounding.
Social Security COLA tied to elderly prices
If enacted, the bill would require the Bureau of Labor Statistics to publish a monthly Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers (CPI-E) starting with months ending on or after June 30 of the enactment year. The Social Security Administration would use CPI-E for cost-of-living adjustments for computation quarters ending after September 30, 2026. The bill would authorize "such sums as are necessary" to prepare and publish CPI-E. This would change the index that determines future automatic Social Security benefit increases.
Lower payroll taxes on high earners
If enacted, the bill would phase down how much of wages above the yearly Social Security base count for tax and benefit credits. The applicable share would be 80% in 2026, 60% in 2027, 40% in 2028, 20% in 2029, and 0% from 2030 on. The same schedule would apply to self-employment tax for taxable years starting after 2025, with a special rule for counting net self-employment excess after wages. This would lower some high earners' payroll taxes now but would also reduce the portion of those excess earnings that count toward future Social Security benefits.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Simon, Lateefah [D-CA-12]
CA • D
Cosponsors
Rep. Omar, Ilhan [D-MN-5]
MN • D
Sponsored 7/16/2026
Rep. Deluzio, Christopher R. [D-PA-17]
PA • D
Sponsored 7/16/2026
Rep. Waters, Maxine [D-CA-43]
CA • D
Sponsored 7/20/2026
Rep. Thanedar, Shri [D-MI-13]
MI • D
Sponsored 7/21/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov