John Cavanaugh's Social Security Town Hall

The state senator and Congressional candidate spoke on reforms to the 90 year old program and fears that leaked data would be used for political retribution.

On Monday, John Cavanaugh, state senator and current candidate for Congress, held a town hall event at the Teamsters Local 554 union hall in Omaha.

The topic of discussion was Social Security, and the guest speaker—appearing via video chat due to weather issues—was Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

Richtman emphasized that Social Security, contrary to what many younger people believe, is neither going bankrupt nor a “Ponzi scheme.” He said, however, that the program does need reform to remain sustainable, particularly by finding ways to bring more revenue into the system.

“The main way, I think, is to adjust the cap on Social Security wages that are subject to the payroll tax.” Richtman said. “It’s currently a little less than $185,000 a year. After that, no more payroll tax.” Richtman added that during the Reagan administration, 92% of wage earners were subject to the payroll tax, a number that has fallen to around 80% due to alternative forms of income, such as stock options.

“Ronald Reagan was no great champion of equality or a progressive financial system,” Cavanaugh said. “But we’ve gotten so far away that we are 11% worse than Ronald Reagan’s compromise. And if we just went back to that at 92%, then we would be in a lot better shape.”

While Richtman said his organization would support removing the cap altogether, he acknowledged that doing so would likely be politically unrealistic.

“$200,000 a year is a lot more money in some parts of the country than it is in big cities back east or on the west coast,” he said. “And politically, it would be very hard to get the votes to eliminate it altogether.”

One guest asked about a recently reported data breach in which a former DOGE employee reportedly copied two restricted databases onto a personal thumb drive. Cavanaugh suggested the breach could be part of a broader effort to undermine public confidence in government programs.

“I think just overall, it’s a fundamental erosion in the confidence in the system,” he said. “They’re trying to make it so people don’t trust Social Security, that they don’t trust elections, that they don’t trust any of these other institutions, and therefore they shouldn’t exist or that they won’t participate.”

In addition to the data’s potential use by scammers on the “dark web,” Cavanaugh also suggested it could be used for political retribution by the Trump administration.

“There’s a genuine fear that people don’t even want to donate money to somebody who is opposed to Trump anymore, because that information is released publicly and they’re afraid of retribution,” Cavanaugh said. “And of course, he’s using the court systems to prosecute, you know, Letitia James and Jack Smith and whoever else you can think of who has gone after him. … We need to control these key committees in the House so that we can have these hearings, so we can hold these people accountable. We can bring into the light all of the misdeeds.”

Around 20 guests attended the event. While most of them were seniors, Richtman cited Cavanaugh’s age as a factor when he endorsed him on behalf of his organization.

“I know you can do this as a younger member of Congress, in relating to younger folks,” Richtman said. “If we make some changes, like the ones we’ve been talking about, bringing revenue into the program in a fair way, it will be there going forward. But it’s there right now for younger people.”

The event was held at the Teamsters Local 554 union hall, whose members are currently engaged in a strike against Premier Midwest Beer and Beverage. Cavanaugh tied the strike into his remarks about defending Social Security through what he described as “collective action.”

“Social Security is the most effective government program in history to lift people out of poverty, to create security and to create wealth and opportunity for people,” Cavanaugh said. “And unions are similarly that important. And so to be here in a union hall with folks who are struggling, I think it’s really important that we all stand together and fight for Social Security.”