On Wednesday, Social Security reached 89.^th Anniversary since President Franklin D. Roosevelt enacted the program.

The program now faces an uncertain future, with all trust funds expected to be exhausted in 2035. Unless Congress acts sooner, recipients will face a 17% across-the-board benefit cut then.

In fact, the program’s trust fund, which pays retirement benefits, will be exhausted as early as 2033. This puts these benefits at risk of being cut by 21 percent.

The future of Social Security is “one of the most important” or “very important” issues in choosing candidates for the November presidential election, according to a new CNBC poll.

“Based on my conversations with many people from both parties on Capitol Hill, I believe there is a will to actually look at this and extend it for many, many years,” Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday.

Trump is not the first to propose eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits. A Democratic bill introduced in the House of Representatives in January – the You Earned It, You Keep It Act – also calls for exempting Social Security benefits from gross income for federal income tax purposes.

If the law were to go into effect, average senior households could save nearly $560 a year, the Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan seniors organization, recently estimated.

But that move would increase budget deficits by $1.6 trillion to $1.8 trillion by 2035, the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found in a recent analysis of Trump’s idea. In addition, the Social Security deficit would increase by 25 percent over 75 years.

A Trump campaign spokesman did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Instead, Larson is promoting a more comprehensive reform package, the Social Security 2100 Act, which would make social benefits more generous in general and finance the increases through higher taxes on the rich.

The bill would include a 2% across-the-board benefit increase, as well as more targeted increases for low-income retirees, widows and widowers, and students. The proposal would also eliminate current rules that result in benefit cuts for civil servants, known as the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset.

To fund these changes, the bill would raise Social Security payroll tax thresholds for the wealthy. In 2024, these taxes would apply to incomes of up to $168,600. The bill would reinstate the tax on incomes over $400,000 and impose a higher net investment income tax rate on these higher earners.

Overall, the bill’s provisions could help extend the program’s ability to pay full benefits by 32 years, the Social Security Office of the Chief Actuary estimated last year.

Social Security 2100 has been reintroduced in several sessions of Congress. Larson, who is running for re-election, said he plans to reintroduce it in the next session.

While the current version is supported by 188 Democratic co-signatories, Larson is hoping for the support of two other notable leaders – Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.

As a senator, Harris co-signed a bill that also called for expanding Social Security while raising taxes on the rich. As vice president, the White House administration also called for expanding Social Security and taxing the rich.

According to Larson, Walz was one of the original cosponsors of Social Security 2100 during his time as a congressman for Minnesota. As governor of Minnesota, Walz increased the state’s tax exemption for Social Security benefits.

The Harris-Walz campaign team did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

As Republicans consider other changes to Social Security – such as raising the retirement age – Larson hopes he can ultimately convince politicians on the other side of the aisle to support his proposal.

“We’re going to raise the income threshold for people making over $400,000, and the other side says, ‘There you go again. It’s about taxing the rich,'” Larson said. “No, it’s about making them pay their fair share.”

In congressional hearings on the program, Republican lawmakers have raised concerns about the costs associated with reforming the program. Ultimately, restoring Social Security’s solvency could require a compromise that includes both tax increases and benefit cuts.

Republican Rep. Jodey Arrington of Texas praised Larson for his efforts and for putting a proposal on paper during a hearing of the House Appropriations Committee’s Social Security subcommittee in April.

“While I disagree with his approach to solving the problem and in some cases strongly oppose it, we need to sit down and hold hands and jump off the cliff when we stand up to those who criticize us if we do anything to reform the program,” Arrington said.

Critics doubt that lawmakers will bring the bill to a vote, but Larson expressed hope that progress on Social Security will be made in the next Congress or in the upcoming parliamentary session.