There is not enough public evidence here to say that either Roy Cooper or Michael Whatley would back a specific Social Security fix. Whatley has stated a broad goal of protecting the program for North Carolina seniors, but no financing plan is established. The six-year warning refers to projected depletion of the retirement and survivor insurance trust fund’s reserves in late 2032—not to Social Security stopping all payments.
What does “running out of money” mean?
The Social Security Administration’s 2026 Trustees Report Summary projects that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund will deplete its reserves in the fourth quarter of 2032, using the report’s intermediate assumptions—its best estimates of future demographic, economic and program-specific conditions. A projection is not an observed future outcome, and the projected date can change as conditions and assumptions change.
Reserve depletion would leave a gap between scheduled benefits and the program’s continuing income. It would not mean the program has no money or that payments automatically stop. The Associated Press likewise describes the outlook as a partial funding gap, not a collapse: AP’s report on the 2026 Trustees projections.
Which Social Security projection is the six-year warning about?
“Social Security” can refer to different trust-fund measures. OASI pays retirement and survivor benefits. Disability Insurance (DI) pays disability benefits. The Trustees report separate OASI and DI projections as well as a combined OASDI projection. The funds are legally separate; combining them for actual payment purposes would require a change in law.
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| Measure | Projected reserve status | Scheduled benefits payable at depletion |
|---|---|---|
| OASI: retirement and survivor benefits | Reserves projected to deplete in Q4 2032 | 78% |
| DI: disability benefits | Full benefits projected through at least 2100 | Not applicable to a depletion date in the report’s projection |
| Combined OASDI: retirement, survivor and disability benefits | Reserves projected to deplete in Q3 2034 | 83% |
These are the Trustees’ 2026 intermediate-assumption projections, not guarantees. The six-year headline is about OASI; the combined OASDI projection has a later depletion date and a different payable-benefit estimate.
What have Cooper and Whatley said about fixing Social Security?
Michael Whatley
AARP’s 2026 candidate questionnaire coverage reports Whatley saying: “My top priority for Social Security will always be to preserve and protect [it] for North Carolina’s seniors.” That is a stated goal, not a detailed solvency proposal. The reported statement does not establish whether he would favor raising revenue, changing benefit formulas, adjusting the retirement age, or taking another approach.
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Roy Cooper
The available evidence does not substantiate a specific Cooper proposal to address Social Security’s funding outlook. Without a direct campaign statement, questionnaire answer or other primary source, it would be misleading to attribute a particular solution—or a promise to support one—to him.
What a concrete plan would need to answer
A promise to protect Social Security does not show how a candidate would address the financing gap. A useful comparison would need direct positions on:
- Whether to increase program revenue, change benefits, or use a combination of approaches.
- Who would be affected and when, including whether current beneficiaries would see changes.
- How much of the projected shortfall the proposal is intended to address.
- Whether the proposal applies to OASI alone or to the combined OASDI system.
Those are questions for evaluating a future proposal, not positions established for either candidate by the statements available here. Party affiliation or an endorsement is not evidence of a candidate’s specific policy.
How large is the longer-term financing gap?
The Trustees report a combined OASDI 75-year actuarial deficit of 4.42% of taxable payroll for the 2026–2100 valuation period. This is a long-range measure of the gap between projected program income and costs, not a candidate’s proposed solution or a direct estimate of one immediate fix. The Trustees say lawmakers should act in a timely way so changes can be phased in gradually. See the 2026 Trustees Report Summary for the assumptions and actuarial measures.
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Why do some officials call the outlook a 22% cut?
In a July 14, 2026 announcement promoting the bipartisan PROMISE Act, Senator Bill Cassidy described the projected shortfall as a 22% cut if Congress does not act. That is Cassidy’s advocacy framing of the OASI projection, not a separate Trustees estimate. His announcement presents the PROMISE Act as a process for beginning congressional action; it does not establish Cooper’s or Whatley’s support for the proposal. Read the Senator Cassidy announcement.
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