No, 156 Republicans didn’t vote to raise the age for Social Security to 70

One tweet viewed nearly 1 million times claims to show a list of 156 Republicans who “voted to raise the retirement age for Social Security to age 70.” Currently, the age for full Social Security benefits is 67.

The graphic in the tweet says the Republicans “signed on to a plan to slash Social Security.”

THE QUESTION

Did 156 Republicans vote to raise the retirement age for Social Security to 70?

THE SOURCES

• Republican Study Committee (RSC)
• RSC’s Blueprint to Save America budget proposal for fiscal year 2023
• Congressional record

THE ANSWER

No, 156 Republicans did not vote to raise the retirement age for Social Security to 70.

WHAT WE FOUND

A 173-member House Republican caucus — a group of Congress members who meet to pursue common legislative goals — released a budget plan last year that proposed raising the retirement age for Social Security to 70. However, it was never put up for a vote, or even introduced as legislation to the House floor. 

It’s also not clear whether every member of the caucus, called the Republican Study Committee (RSC), supports the budget since the plan was drafted by a smaller task force within the caucus, and just 16 of its representatives signed their names to it.

The budget plan referenced in the viral tweet is the RSC’s “Blueprint to Save America,” which it released in June 2022, while Republicans were the House minority. 

Page 82 of the plan proposes gradually raising the current full age eligible to receive Social Security by three months every year until 2040, when the full retirement age would be 70.

This was one of the plan’s several proposed changes to Social Security intended to keep the program from running out of money. Currently, taxes are estimated to only pay for only 75% of scheduled Social Security benefits by 2035, according to the Social Security Administration.

VERIFY checked for any mention of an increase to the Social Security age in the Congressional Record, or log of official proceedings. The current House has not voted on anything that proposes either. The Blueprint to Save America’s only appearance in the Congressional Record is on June 21, 2022. Several Republicans spoke in support of the RSC’s budget, but no one actually turned the proposal into a bill or forced an official House vote on it — the next steps in the legislative process. 

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The caucus used a previous bill as the basis for this proposed budget. That legislation, the Social Security Reform Act of 2016, was also never voted on. It was introduced to the House by Rep. Sam Johnson (R, TX-3) in December 2016 and was then referred to committee, where it died.

The Republican Study Committee describes itself as the “conservative caucus of House Republicans.” The RSC website currently lists 173 members. Although the graphic from the viral tweets says there are 156 Republicans, there are actually 167 Republicans named in the graphic. That’s about how many members were listed on the RSC website at the time the graphic was first posted.

The actual budget Congress passed for fiscal year 2023, which was passed before the 2022 midterm election that saw the GOP gain the majority in the House of Representatives, contains no such changes to the Social Security retirement age. The Biden administration’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2024 also attempts to address Social Security solvency, except its plan is through reforms to the tax code for people with high incomes.