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In a move progressives celebrated as an essential step toward ensuring that no one retires into poverty, over 200 House Democrats on Wednesday introduced legislation that would protect and significantly expand Social Security benefits by subjecting the earnings of wealthy Americans to the program’s payroll tax.

“Having written several books on the history of Social Security, I am confident that today’s bill introduction and what follows will add a significant new chapter to that history.”
—Nancy Altman, Social Security Works

Additionally, the Democratic bill would prevent Social Security benefits from eroding over time by more accurately adjusting them to rising costs of living.

In a statement after the measure was introduced, Social Security Works president Nancy Altman applauded the bill’s “unprecedented” 200 Democratic co-sponsors for working to guarantee that “every penny of promised Social Security benefits, including the increases, can be paid in full and on time through the 21st century and beyond, just as they always have been paid.”

“When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act of 1935 into law, he stated that the legislation represented ‘a cornerstone in a structure which is being built but is by no means complete.’ It is extremely fitting that the Social Security 2100 Act was introduced today, the 137th anniversary of Roosevelt’s birth,” Altman said. “Having written several books on the history of Social Security, I am confident that today’s bill introduction and what follows will add a significant new chapter to that history.”