U.S. Sen. Jon Husted said he does not support a bipartisan plan to lift the Social Security payroll tax cap that was co-authored by his fellow Ohio Republican, Sen. Bernie Moreno — a rare public split between the state’s two GOP senators on one of the country’s most closely watched retirement questions.
Speaking in a June 25 interview on “The Guy Benson Show,” Husted said he shared the goal of shoring up Social Security but rejected the mechanism Moreno laid out with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
“We need to secure Social Security, need to protect it, we need to make it stronger,” Husted said, adding that any fix “will require a bipartisan solution.”
He drew the line at the tax change at the heart of the proposal. “But I’m not on board with the approach that they’ve outlined in terms of the process that they’re outlining with the tax increase, the targeted tax increase that they have,” Husted said. He called Moreno a friend and colleague, then added: “This rifle approach with the giant tax increases, not the way that I would, not the way I’d go about it.”
Moreno and Warren outlined their plan in a New York Times op-ed published Tuesday, June 23. The two say they are drafting legislation to remove the cap on wages subject to the 12.4% Social Security payroll tax. For 2026, that tax applies only to the first $184,500 of a worker’s earnings; income above that threshold is not taxed for Social Security. Workers and employers each pay 6.2%, while self-employed workers pay the full 12.4%.
“Instead of cutting benefits for the retirees who count on Social Security, we need to take bipartisan action to protect those benefits, reward work and restore fairness,” the senators wrote. “That starts with a common-sense solution: lifting the Social Security payroll tax cap.” They argued the current structure is unfair, asking why a middle-class nurse should pay a larger share of her paycheck than a wealthy corporate lawyer. TiffinOhio.net has previously reported on the proposal.
The debate carries direct stakes for Ohio. Federal trustees this month projected the trust fund that pays retirement benefits will be depleted in the fourth quarter of 2032, at which point scheduled benefits would drop to about 78% without congressional action. The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that would cost the average Ohio beneficiary about $487 a month.
Independent analysts have said lifting the cap would meaningfully improve solvency but would not close the gap on its own. Marc Goldwein of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget called the Moreno-Warren idea a reasonable one that could erase roughly half the shortfall and delay insolvency by about 22 years, while cautioning it is not a complete fix. The conservative Tax Foundation, meanwhile, has argued that removing the cap would amount to one of the largest tax increases in decades and warned it would carry economic costs.
Husted’s opposition puts him at odds with Moreno at a moment when Social Security has become a flashpoint in Ohio politics. It also follows Husted’s own push, late last year, for a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget — a proposal that budget analysts warned could force deep cuts to Social Security and Medicare, as TiffinOhio.net previously reported.
Husted is running in the November 3 special election to keep the Senate seat he was appointed to after JD Vance became vice president. His opponent, former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, has made protecting Social Security a centerpiece of his campaign; Brown sponsored the 2024 Social Security Fairness Act, which restored full benefits for many public retirees. Moreno defeated Brown in the 2024 Senate race.
Moreno and Warren say their legislation is still being written and that details have not been released. Any change to Social Security would require approval by Congress.
