Chippewa Valley Residents Rally to Protect Social Security

Chippewa Valley residents rallied outside the Social Security office in Eau Claire on Friday to raise concerns about the program’s future.

The rally, organized by the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans, sought to highlight the 91st anniversary of the Social Security program. It also highlighted a projection that the trust fund that distributes social security benefits will run out of reserves in 2032.

To prevent that projection from coming to fruition, those attending the rally called on the federal government to pass legislation removing the income cap on social security contributions. Currently, the maximum amount of income earnings that workers must pay the social security tax on is $184,500. There is no requirement to continue paying the tax on income above that figure, meaning those who make exactly $184,500 each year pay the same amount into the program as billionaires.

State Representative Jodi Emerson was among those attending the rally, echoing the call to scrap the cap and reiterating the importance of ensuring the Social Security program has the funding needed to continue operating as a safety net for everyone.

“We’ve all grown up with social security as being kind of our safety net,” she said. “The thought of people in Washington not willing to make the changes that need to be happening to ensure that this is there for our parents, our grandparents, ourselves, our children, is really, really disappointing.”

Chippewa Valley residents who attended the rally argued that the ultra-wealthy should not be done paying into the Social Security program for the entire year by January 2nd. Ross Winklbauer Sr., President of the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans, also argued that scrapping that cap would solve the program’s projected insolvency issues.

“You lift that cap, you’ll never have to talk about Social Security again,” he said. “We can get these offices fully funded, we can get offices that have already been closed reopened, and people can have their social security and not have to worry about it. Because if you’re sitting in D.C. you might not be worrying about it. But every day these people have to sit there and wonder, come 2030 what am I going to do? And that’s not right.”

Lawmakers have also previously considered a “donut hole” solution, under which the cap would remain at its current level but would be eliminated on income earnings above $400,000.