Town Hall Caps AARP’s Celebration of Social Security at 90

CEO, members call on Congress to protect and strengthen Social Security for today’s beneficiaries and generations to come

Deirdre van Dyk,

AARP

Comments

En español

Published September 26, 2025

To mark this year’s 90th anniversary of Social Security, AARP has held hundreds of events and activities around the country and engaged millions of older Americans.

In Maine, AARP volunteers joined Gov. Janet Mills as she signed a proclamation honoring Social Security. In Iowa, they offered games and giveaways at the state fair to educate their neighbors about the importance of Social Security. In Wisconsin, they celebrated with baseball fans, handing out slices of birthday cake at a minor-league game.

In June, AARP members turned out in force to lobby Capitol Hill lawmakers on Social Security, caregiving and other issues crucial to older Americans’ money, health and well-being. In August, some 50 red-shirted volunteers staged a Social Security takeover in New York City’s Times Square.

Capping it all off, Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan, AARP’s CEO, led a Town Hall on Sept. 25 where she and other AARP leaders answered members’ questions and shared our determination to keep fighting to protect and strengthen Social Security.

myechia minter-jordan addresses the a a r p social security town hall

AARP CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan delivers opening remarks at the Social Security 90th anniversary town hall.

Rebecca Drobis

Fighting for the future

More than 70 million people received Social Security payments in August 2025. Years of AARP polling shows that Americans across the political spectrum agree on Social Security’s importance, Minter-Jordan said in her opening remarks.

“The numbers confirm what we already know: Americans still consider Social Security one of America’s most important initiatives,” she said. “In fact, 85 percent of people 50-plus say that it is essential. Not helpful — essential.”

Join Our Fight to Protect Social Security

You’ve worked hard and paid into Social Security with every paycheck. Here’s what you can do to help keep Social Security strong:

Add your name and pledge to protect Social Security.
Find out how AARP is fighting to keep Social Security strong.
Get expert advice on Social Security benefits and answers to common questions.
AARP is your fierce defender on the issues that matter to people 50-plus. Become a member or renew your membership today.

More than 4 in 10 Americans age 65 and older who collect Social Security derive at least half of their income from it, according to Social Security Administration data. For about 1 in 7, it’s nearly all their income. Without Social Security, the poverty rate in that age group would rise from 10 percent to 37 percent, Minter-Jordan said.

“These aren’t just statistics,” she added. “They represent millions of American families who can live life with dignity because Social Security works as it was intended.”

But despite how successful — and popular — Social Security is, it faces serious challenges. Social Security’s trustees project that its trust funds will run short in 2034 unless Congress acts to shore up the program’s finances. Absent such action, Social Security would only be able to pay about 80 percent of scheduled benefits.

The looming shortfall has left Americans confused and concerned.

Since its inception, AARP has worked to keep Social Security strong, Minter-Jordan said. In past years, AARP has successfully fought for annual, automatic cost-of-living adjustments and against plans to privatize Social Security by tying benefits to the stock market. As a result, even when the market plunged, as it did in 2008 and 2020, Social Security payments stayed secure, unlike income from investments.

Most Popular

“We know that Social Security is strong, needs to be strong, and that families are going to be strong as a result. When Social Security is secure, our entire economy is more secure,” said Nancy LeaMond, AARP’s chief advocacy and engagement officer.

“We need your voices. We need you to contact elected leaders and tell them that Social Security is more than a budget item,” LeaMond said. “It’s a promise that must be kept.”

They earned it

Before the town hall, three beneficiaries who came to AARP’s national office in Washington, D.C., to participate in the event — and who depend on Social Security for all or almost all their income — talked about what the program means to them.

Leeza Burton, 67, moved from the New York area to Columbia, South Carolina, in 2020 to be close to her parents and reduce her living costs. A few days after she moved into her new apartment, the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down, including her hopes of finding a job.

With limited savings — she had used up much of her individual retirement account (IRA) after getting laid off during the Great Recession — she turned to Social Security at 62, the earliest claiming age. The benefits were a godsend, Burton said, and need to be fully funded for future generations.

“We’ve paid into this our whole lives,” she said.

Verel Johnson, 70, from Pompano Beach, Florida, worked with adults with disabilities as a behavioral specialist. After draining her 401(k) and IRA to pay for surgery for a brain aneurysm that her insurance declined to cover, she thought she’d have to keep working for the rest of her life, despite knee problems that made walking difficult. Realizing she could make do with just her Social Security “was a blessing,” she said.

Now, Johnson regularly writes her elected representatives, urging them to protect Social Security. “I’m ready to fight for it. I’ll go in the street, publicly, unashamedly, and say it’s mine,” she said. “Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme. It’s an investment for us.”

“My grandparents paid into it and lived to collect. My parents paid into it and lived to collect. I’ve paid into it and am collecting. But ultimately, what’s going to happen for my children, my grandchildren?” said Steven Porter, 74, a former IT professional from Scottsdale, Arizona. When he hears about forecasts that the trust funds will run short and payments will be reduced, he said, “you might as well be telling me that FDIC is going to stop insuring our bank accounts.”

a woman speaks into a microphone in front of a crowd

A question from Lelia Gibson-Green, an AARP member from Colorado, kicked off the Q&A portion of the program.

Rebecca Drobis

Addressing members’ concerns

When AARP financial columnist and town hall moderator Jean Chatzky opened the floor to questions, Lelia Gibson-Green, a cancer survivor from Colorado Springs, Colorado, who relies on Social Security and Medicaid, asked, “How do we get to the lawmakers, encourage them to help us with Social Security?”

“First and foremost is being here in this room, testifying to others about your experience, about why we believe Social Security is important to you, being able to tell those stories to our legislators,” Minter-Jordan replied. “Because they want to hear from real people. They want to understand what’s happening in their community.”

Several of the more than 13,000 people who registered to watch the town hall online sent in questions on what they and AARP can do to make the case to Congress, some noting fears among younger adults that Social Security won’t be there for them when they need it.

“I’m 48 years old. I plan to work for another 25 years,” one viewer wrote. “Am I even going to see the Social Security I earned when I retire? My generation is really scared.”

“It’s going to be our job to work with folks, not just in this room, but around the country, to organize and motivate and increase the number of folks who can continue to put that type of pressure on Congress, the Senate and the president of the United States,” said John Hishta, senior vice president of campaigns at AARP.

“Older folks vote,” he said. “Members of Congress know that, and we’re going to make sure we stay diligent until the program is fully funded for the next generation.”

Interviewing Porter during the program, Minter-Jordan asked what he would say to members of Congress if they were in the room.

“Social Security was set up 90 years ago as a promise — that money that we put in now will be there for us when we retire,” he said. “The government is the financial institution that’s guaranteeing this money. The elected officials that are there today are merely representatives of that institution, and if they fail to uphold this promise, what other guarantees that they’ve made to American citizens and to the world are they going to disregard?”

“From your mouth to their ears,” Minter-Jordan said.

%{postComment}%

Deirdre van Dyk is an AARP associate editor covering Social Security, caregiving, technology and fraud. She previously worked at USA Today and Time, where she covered business, government, sustainability and innovation.