The Social Security Expansion Act aims to significantly enhance Social Security benefits for current and future retirees while simultaneously ensuring the program's long-term financial solvency . This is achieved through a combination of increased benefits and new revenue streams. Key benefit enhancements include an across-the-board increase by raising the first bend point percentage from 90 percent to 95 percent and adding an 18 percent increase to the bend point amount for new beneficiaries after 2025. The bill also establishes a new minimum benefit for lifetime low earners , ensuring that individuals with more than 10 years of work receive a primary insurance amount linked to the poverty guideline, increasing with their years in the workforce. Furthermore, it modifies the calculation of cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) by mandating the use of the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers (CPI-E), which typically reflects higher inflation for seniors. Eligibility for child's insurance benefits for full-time students is extended from age 19 to 22 for children of disabled or deceased individuals, providing additional support for families. To fund these enhancements and strengthen solvency, the Act introduces new revenue measures. It reinstates the Social Security payroll tax on earnings above $250,000, creating a "donut hole" where earnings between the current contribution and benefit base and $250,000 remain untaxed. This new tax structure also applies to net earnings from self-employment , ensuring high-income self-employed individuals contribute similarly. Additionally, the bill significantly increases the net investment income tax (NIIT) from 3.8 percent to 16.2 percent. This expanded tax will now apply to active trade or business income, removing previous exemptions, and 62 percent of the revenue generated from this increased tax will be directed to the Social Security Trust Fund. Finally, the legislation streamlines the program's financial structure by merging the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund into a single "Social Security Trust Fund," aiming to simplify administration and enhance overall program stability.