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Events • May 6, 2026 

# Social Security in the Red: Implications for Federal Debt 

Social Security is widely portrayed as a self-financed program with a long-term trust fund solvency problem. But for more than a decade, the program has already been financed in part through federal borrowing. The trust fund is a political construct, not a true repository of savings or investments. Since 2010, the Treasury has borrowed more than $1.5 trillion to pay Social Security benefits, and borrowing is projected to rise sharply even before the trust fund is exhausted in 2032. Over the next 75 years, the program’s cash-flow shortfall will exceed $28 trillion in present-value terms.

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This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

![Jessica Riedl](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2026-02/jessica-riedl-circle.jpeg?itok=YArlR6nF) 

##### Jessica Riedl 

Budget and Tax Fellow, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, Brookings Institution

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##### C. Eugene Steuerle 

Institute Fellow and Richard B. Fisher Chair, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, Urban Institute

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##### [Romina Boccia](/people/romina-boccia)

Director of Budget and Entitlement Policy, Cato Institute

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