WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) joined Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) and a bipartisan group of colleagues to cosponsor the Time to Rescue United States’ Trusts (TRUST) Act. The bipartisan and bicameral bill would create a process to rescue endangered federal trust funds and rein in the national debt.
“We must get serious about saving Social Security and Medicare from bankruptcy,” said Dr. Cassidy. “This bill modernizes and preserves these programs for our children and grandchildren.”
“There is broad recognition that we need to address the looming insolvency of our federal trust funds,” said Senator Romney. “Getting our country through the COVID-19 pandemic has required us to borrow trillions of dollars, which has in turn threatened essential programs like Medicare and Social Security. Congress must respond in a way which will address this long-term problem, which is coming down the pike much sooner than was expected. Our TRUST Act is a bipartisan solution which will shore up our federal trust funds and put us on a path toward a stronger fiscal future.”
Some of the nation’s most important federal programs are financed through dedicated revenue sources and managed through trust funds. Several of the largest trust funds are heading towards insolvency, including the Highway Trust Fund, Medicare Part A, and both Social Security trust funds. In September 2020, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that four of the major trust funds will exhaust their reserves within the next 11 years. The TRUST Act would provide a vehicle to address the key structural issues behind the debt and allow Congress to put our major federal programs on a stronger footing.
The TRUST Act is also cosponsored by Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Todd Young (R-IN), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Angus King (I-ME), Rob Portman (R-OH), Mark Warner (D-VA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and Dan Sullivan (R-AK).
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