Rep. Chuck Edwards is part of a Republican group in Congress whose budget plans would cut future Social Security benefits by raising the retirement age and changing how payments are calculated. The plan would move the full retirement age to 69—roughly a 13% benefit cut for everyone who retires later. Experts say these changes would hit lower-income workers hardest. Edwards also backed creating a special commission that could fast-track big changes to Social Security without the usual debate or amendments. At town halls, he’s left the door open to reducing benefits for future retirees.
- Edwards is a member of the Republican Study Committee (RSC). (chuckedwardsforcongress.com)
- The RSC’s budget proposals call for raising the full retirement age “to account for increases in life expectancy” and for additional benefit‑reducing changes (e.g., altering the PIA formula; moving toward a flatter benefit); prior descriptions of the plan specify phasing the full retirement age up to 69 by 2033. (axios.com)
- The RSC comprises roughly 80% of House Republicans, so its budget blueprints are a meaningful signal of caucus priorities. (axios.com)
- Reporting on the RSC plan details that raising the retirement age to 69 and modifying benefit formulas would reduce Social Security spending by roughly $1.5 trillion over a decade and shift toward flatter benefits—reductions that fall on future retirees. (thefiscaltimes.com)
- The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (as cited by PolitiFact) notes that increasing the full retirement age is “roughly equivalent to an across‑the‑board cut in benefits”; raising it from 67 to 69 implies about a 13% cut. (politifact.com)
- CBO’s analysis, summarized by the Senate Budget Committee, likewise finds that increasing the retirement age to 69 would cut average benefits by about 13% and would not extend solvency. (budget.senate.gov)
- Independent research shows such increases disproportionately harm lower‑income workers, who have shorter life expectancies and are more likely to claim earlier. (cbpp.org)
- Edwards serves on the House Budget Committee (and its Oversight Task Force), the panel that advanced H.R. 5779, the Fiscal Commission Act, to the House floor in January 2024. (budget.house.gov)
- The Fiscal Commission Act would give the commission’s package expedited, amendment‑free consideration in Congress—allowing sweeping changes that include Social Security to be fast‑tracked. (congress.gov)
- Critics, including the Senate Finance Committee chair and seniors’ advocates, warn the commission structure is a vehicle to fast‑track cuts to Social Security and Medicare. (finance.senate.gov)
- At his March 13, 2025 Asheville town hall, Edwards indicated it may be necessary to make some changes to keep Social Security solvent while promising not to touch benefits “for anyone that is already in the program”—language that reserves changes for future beneficiaries. (bpr.org)
- In the same period, when pressed by constituents, he reassured he wouldn’t “dissolve” Social Security but did not rule out structural reforms. (bostonglobe.com)