Has Congress passed legislation to rename Social Security or its administered programs recently?
Executive summary
Congress has not enacted legislation that renames “Social Security” or its core programs recently; recent bills and laws have focused on benefit changes, expansions and technical fixes such as the Social Security Fairness Act (signed Jan. 5, 2025) and a slate of bills in the 119th Congress to expand or tweak benefits, not to change the program’s name [1] [2] [3] [4]. Proposed measures in 2025 — including H.R.1700/S.770 and other bills — use “Social Security” in their titles and text, indicating policy change rather than rebranding [4] [2] [3].
1. What Congress actually did recently: benefit and structural changes, not renaming
The most concrete recent statutory action affecting the program was the Social Security Fairness Act, which repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset and was signed into law Jan. 5, 2025; the law’s effects and payments were implemented by the Social Security Administration (SSA) in 2025 [1] [5]. Other legislative activity in the 119th Congress — bills named the Social Security Expansion Act, Social Security Enhancement and Protection Act of 2025, and similar measures — seek to expand benefits, recalibrate calculations, or change funding rules, but their public summaries and texts keep “Social Security” as the program name [2] [3] [4] [6].
2. Introduced bills signal reform, not a rebrand
Multiple bills introduced in 2025 aim at boosting benefits or adjusting financing: H.R.1700 (Social Security Expansion Act) would recompute primary insurance amounts and add tax and trust-fund provisions; H.R.3517 is titled the Social Security Enhancement and Protection Act of 2025; S.770 carries the Social Security Expansion Act name in the Senate record [4] [3] [2]. The bills’ language and sponsors emphasize benefit increases, solvency, and administration rather than renaming the program [4] [6].
3. SSA implementation actions are operational, not nominal
The Social Security Administration has been implementing benefit adjustments and operational changes tied to law and policy — for example, rolling out payments under the Fairness Act and updating COLA notices and service improvements — but these are administrative actions, not legal renaming of the statute or program titles [1] [7] [8]. SSA’s legislative office catalogues congressional provisions that affect operations but does not report any change to the program’s name [9].
4. Political messaging can create confusion — watch titles vs. substance
Legislative titles and news coverage often foreground “Social Security” in bill names to signal what they change; that naming convention can be mistaken for an intent to rename the program. Reporting on proposals to “safeguard” or “expand” Social Security (e.g., stories about Schumer’s announced proposals) highlights policy priorities, not legal renaming [10]. The presence of “Social Security” in bill titles and press releases shows continuity of the brand and legal name while advocating reform [2] [3] [10].
5. What sources do not say: no evidence of a recent renaming measure passed
Available sources do not mention any statute or enacted provision that formally renames “Social Security” or its administered programs. Bills introduced or discussed in 2024–2025 change benefits, repeals, or funding mechanics; none report an enacted name change [1] [4] [2] [3]. If a renaming had passed, the SSA legislative update and Congress.gov bill texts — both in the provided set — would be the obvious places to record such an action, and they do not [9] [4].
6. Why a renaming would be notable — and why it hasn’t happened
Renaming a major federal entitlement would require explicit statutory language changing titles and cross-references throughout the Social Security Act and related statutes; that’s a large, technically complex undertaking and would appear in bill texts and in SSA’s legislative summaries. The active legislative agenda in 2025 prioritizes solvency and benefit adjustments rather than the administrative work of wholesale renaming, as reflected by bills that amend benefit formulas and taxes rather than replace program names [4] [2] [3].
Limitations and next steps for verification
This analysis relies only on the supplied documents; if you want exhaustive confirmation, check Congress.gov for any additional enacted public laws or the SSA Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs page for updates beyond those provided here [4] [9]. Available sources do not mention any enacted renaming of Social Security.