Rich couples are collecting over $100,000 in Social Security. A new proposal would cap that.
Some of America’s wealthiest couples are collecting $100,000 in Social Security benefits — a six-figure payout that a new proposal says should be capped to help the retirement program avoid insolvency in 2032.
About 1 million individual Social Security beneficiaries receive at least $50,000 in annual payments, or more than $100,000 for a retired couple, according to an analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan think tank focused on fiscal and budgetary issues.
Although that represents less than 2% of the roughly 56 million people 65 or older who get Social Security, the CRFB’s analysis projects that the share will grow over time, given the annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security benefits and as a growing number of Americans reach retirement age.
How much would a six-figure cap save?
Capping Social Security payments at $100,000 for couples or $50,000 for single older Americans would save as much as $190 billion over a decade and close at least 20% of the program’s solvency gap, the analysis found. The “six-figure limit” could be combined with other possible fixes — such as lifting the income exemption for Social Security taxes or boosting the payroll tax — to plug the program’s funding hole.
“The wealthiest seniors are collecting from Social Security for the first time $100,000 in benefits,” Marc Goldwein, senior policy director at the CRFB, told CBS News. “This is a program that, when you go back to its founding, was a measure of protection against falling into poverty. The fact that an income support program would pay six figures is a little silly.”
The CRFB’s proposal suggests indexing the $100,000 benefit threshold either to inflation or by using wages as a peg. That would guard against middle- and low-income households being affected by the proposed cap as the Social Security Administration issues cost-of-living increases.
Ninety-five percent of voters say lawmakers running for office this year need to explain how they intend to address Social Security’s looming insolvency and avoid an automatic cut to all Social Security benefits in 2032, according to a new poll from The Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a think tank focused on fiscal issues. The cuts are scheduled to occur during the term of U.S. senators elected this November, the group added.
The $100,000 couple
Couples who jointly receive more than $100,000 in Social Security benefits are those who have earned at least the Social Security taxable maximum income, which now stands at $184,500, for at least 35 years and who claim their benefits at their full retirement age, which is 67 this year.
A maximum-earning couple, both age 67 and claiming this year, would receive $101,000 in annual benefits, or about $8,416 in monthly payments, according to the CRFB.
By comparison, the average monthly benefit for a retired worker is $2,071, according to Social Security.
If the retirement program’s trust fund becomes insolvent, all Social Security beneficiaries would face a benefit cut of about 20%, according to experts. Because millions of seniors rely on Social Security for all or most of their income, such a reduction would likely sharply drive up poverty among older Americans.
AARP’s response
AARP, a group representing Americans 50 or older, pushed back against the plan to put a lid on benefits for certain wealthy beneficiaries.
“Proposals that focus on capping Social Security don’t address the problem in front of Congress: ensuring every American gets every dollar they have earned,” Jenn Jones, AARP vice president for financial security and livable communities, said in a statement. “What’s worse, ideas like this risk becoming a backdoor to broader cuts.”
Older Americans also don’t want to see their benefits reduced after paying into the program during their careers, she added.
Video Dogs rescued after being left stranded in Hawaii floodwaters
Dogs rescued after being left stranded in Hawaii floodwaters
Two dogs stranded amid the floodwaters in Hawaii were rescued after being spotted from the sky. The person who shared the video said that both dogs are “safe and back home with their family.”
March 25, 2026
Tom Brady reveals why majority NFL team ownership may not be for him
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Tom Brady may have only worn the helmets of two different teams in his NFL career, but in his post-playing journey, he’s become a man of many hats.
Brady is the Chief Wellness Officer of eMed Population Health, a lead broadcaster with FOX and a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders – among other things.
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Fox Sports announcer Kevin Burkhardt (left) with Tom Brady on the field before Super Bowl LIX between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs at Caesars Superdome on Feb. 9, 2025. (Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images)
While he appeared on FOX Business’ “Mornings with Maria” on Thursday to talk about his role with eMed, anchor Maria Bartiromo asked the seven-time Super Bowl champion whether he would ever consider becoming a majority owner of an NFL team.
“Great question. I gotta work pretty hard. I paid ordinary income taxes for a very long time in the NFL,” he said. “And these valuations have gotten very expensive.”
PATRICK MAHOMES THROWING FOOTBALL AGAIN THREE MONTHS AFTER ACL TEAR
Founders FFC quarterback Tom Brady (12) throws ball against Logan Paul of Wildcats FFC during the Fanatics Flag Football Classic at BMO stadium on March 21, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
Brady said he enjoys the roles he currently has and joked about not getting booed anymore when he walks into a stadium.
“But I love playing the role I have,” he continued. “I certainly love my role at FOX and broadcasting has been … I could never have imagined the joy I find being able to be on camera with my great partner Kevin Burkhardt, our entire team, and communicating to all our fans how incredible the game of football is and how sports brings together communities. I see it every week when I go to these amazing stadiums and it feels really nice walking into stadiums and not getting booed by everybody anymore. There’s more cheers than I realize, like, ‘Oh man, maybe they respected me a little more than I thought.’
Former quarterback Tom Brady, left, gestures before an NFL football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Arizona Cardinals in Santa Clara, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
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“So, having this role in broadcasting, being involved in football with the Raiders has absolutely been a dream come true and also making a difference in other people’s lives, trying to share some of the things in my mind that I’ve learned from incredible mentors, trying to inspire through the different people that have come into my life, to communicate the messages that I’ve been able to get that have helped me live my dream. And I want to do that for others.”
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Paige Spiranac offers crucial golf tips for busty women
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Golf influencer Paige Spiranac is hoping to help women with big breasts up their golf game without hurting themselves.
Spiranac, who has millions of followers on social media, posted a video to help those women with their swing. She captioned the video, “How to swing with some great cans.”
“I’m here to help you,” she said to start the short clip. “Step one, move farther away (from the ball) to give you some space. Next, you want to tuck your right arm and lay your left arm on top of your (breast).”
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Paige Spiranac plays the 17th green during the Creator Classic at Philly Cricket Club, prior to the Truist Championship at The Philadelphia Cricket Club (Wissahickon Course) on May 7, 2025, in Flourtown, Philadelphia. (Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)
“Bombs away?!” she added after swinging from the tee box.
The clip garnered more than 2.6 million views in just under 24 hours since it was posted.
Spiranac has been easing back into social media over the last few weeks after taking a hiatus from her platforms. Last week, she offered some praise to at least one commenter who continues to offer a lewd remark that she suggested continues to lift her spirits.
“There is this guy who comments ‘great cans’ on everything I post,” she wrote. “In a world full of hate and despair I know he will always be there for me to lift my spirits.
Paige Spiranac attends the 2025 US Open with Maestro Dobel Tequila, the “Official Tequila” of the US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Aug. 28, 2025 in New York City. (Anna Webber/Getty Images for Maestro Dobel Tequila)
PAIGE SPIRANAC OPENS UP ON SOCIAL MEDIA HIATUS: ‘JUST OVERTHINKING EVERYTHING’
“He’s never missed a post for years.”
Spiranac said in February she had been trying to get out of her “funk.”
“… And its not like a one or two day thing,” Spiranac wrote on her Instagram Stories in February, via the New York Post. “This has been going on for a little bit. I feel like I’ve just been so in my head about everything and I’m just trying to work through it. I think that’s why I haven’t been posting as much because I am just overthinking everything and I just feel like my anxiety has taken control.
“I’m trying to push myself outside of that and post more and get back to what I was doing before. I feel like I haven’t been active because I’ve just been in my own head, in this kind of funky rut and we’re working through it.”
Paige Spiranac attends Netflix’s “Happy Gilmore 2” New York Premiere at Jazz at Lincoln Center on July 21, 2025 in New York City. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
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Spiranac lamented how her audience and others haven’t seen her correctly and said she believed she was “actually really misunderstood.”
While she admitted that her “rut” caused her to stay away from golf for a bit, she said she hoped to create more of a fun-focused golf series in the near future.
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Israel says Iranian leader who ordered Strait of Hormuz closure killed in targeted strike
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Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri was targeted and killed in an Israeli attack, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz has noted.
“Tonight, in a precise and lethal operation, the IDF eliminated the Commander of the IRGC Navy, Tangsiri, along with senior members of the naval command,” Katz noted, according to a translation from Hebrew. “The man who was directly responsible for the terrorist act of mining and blocking the Strait of Hormuz to navigation has been targeted and eliminated.”
“This is a clear message to all senior officials of the Iranian IRGC terror organization currently ruling Iran: The IDF will hunt and eliminate you one by one. I congratulate the IDF on a perfect execution,” Katz indicated. “This is also significant news for our American partners, as an expression of the IDF’s assistance in reopening the Strait of Hormuz and the historic partnership between U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and between our two countries and two armies.”
TRUMP ADMIN PITCHES 15-POINT IRAN PEACE PROPOSAL AS PAKISTAN OFFERS TO HOLD TALKS
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s navy commander, Alireza Tangsiri, toured an exhibition in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran, Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
The strike was executed based on American and Israeli intelligence, a senior Israeli official indicated to Fox News.
“The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy, Alireza Tangsiri, who directly commanded the closure of the Strait of Hormuz — one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints — was targeted in a strike overnight, along with his senior operational leadership, including intelligence and operations chiefs, at a covert naval command center,” the official noted. “This targeted strike was based on U.S. and Israeli intelligence and continues to demonstrate how deeply it is capable of penetrating.”
US MOVES AIRBORNE TROOPS, MARINES AS IRAN REJECTS CEASEFIRE, RAISING GROUND WAR POTENTIAL
Israeli Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, at the Ministry of National Defense, Athens, Jan. 20, 2026. (Nick Paleologos / SOOC / AFP via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump launched the controversial war against Iran in conjunction with Israel nearly four weeks ago.
“The Iranian negotiators are very different and ‘strange.’ They are ‘begging’ us to make a deal, which they should be doing since they have been militarily obliterated, with zero chance of a comeback, and yet they publicly state that they are only ‘looking at our proposal.’ WRONG!!!” Trump declared in a Thursday morning Truth Social post.
WHY TRUMP, IRAN SEEM LIGHT-YEARS APART ON ANY POSSIBLE DEAL TO END THE WAR
President Donald Trump greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he arrives at the White House on Sept. 29, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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“They better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty!” he warned.
Fox News’ Yael Rotem-Kuriel contributed to this report
Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez push bill to impose AI data center moratorium
WASHINGTON — Two high-profile progressive lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday that would pause new data centers in the United States until national safeguards are in place to protect workers and consumers and ensure the technologies don’t harm the environment.
The legislation by Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is unlikely to advance in either the House or Senate, but it shows the deep concerns many progressives share about the growing impact of data centers and artificial intelligence.
Communities across the country have seen a backlash against data centers over fears about rising electricity prices and concerns about pollution and water consumption. Opposition to rising power prices was also a key factor in Democratic wins last year in elections in states including Georgia, Virginia and New Jersey.
Although advances in artificial intelligence are seen by President Donald Trump and other leaders as critical to the nation’s economic and national security, their growing energy needs are threatening to overwhelm the power grid. Trump has sought to deflect public concerns about AI, inviting major technology companies to the White House earlier this month to commit to developing their own power generation.
“They need some PR help because people think that if a data center goes in there, electricity prices are going to go up,” Trump said.
Voters need far more than voluntary assurances from “Big Tech oligarchs” as they confront “the most profound technological revolution in world history,” Sanders said Wednesday.
Changes from AI and robotics will impact the U.S. economy and American democracy as well as “our privacy rights, our emotional well-being, our environment and even our very survival as human beings on this planet,” he said at a news conference at the Capitol, adding, “Congress is way behind where it should be in understanding the nature of this revolution and its impacts.”
A moratorium will give lawmakers, business leaders and others time to understand the risks of AI and data centers, protect working families and democracy and ensure the technology works for all Americans, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez said.
U.S. electricity consumption hit a record high in 2024 and is expected to keep rising as data centers continue to expand at a rapid pace. A typical AI-focused data center consumes as much electricity as 100,000 households.
Ocasio-Cortez said big tech companies are seeking “endless energy” and “are now so desperate to profit off the AI boom that they are racing to construct thousands of giant AI data centers and jacking up the utility costs of everyday Americans to pay for it.”
“Congress has a moral obligation to stand with the American people and stop Big Tech from ruining their communities,” she said.
Most lawmakers of both parties have rejected the idea of a moratorium.
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania said he agreed with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s warning that a moratorium on data centers amounts to waving a “surrender flag” to China. “I refuse to help hand the lead in AI to China,” Fetterman wrote on X.
The Data Center Coalition, an industry group, said data centers “power modern life — from telehealth and digital classrooms to banking, air travel, financial transactions and online shopping.”
A moratorium “would limit internet capacity, slow critical services, eliminate hundreds of thousands of high-wage jobs, drain billions in local tax revenue and raise costs for American families and small businesses,” said Cy McNeill, the coalition’s senior director of federal affairs.
The White House said last week that Congress should “preempt state AI laws” that it views as too burdensome, laying out a broad framework for how it wants Congress to address concerns about AI without curbing growth or innovation in the sector.
The legislative blueprint outlines a half-dozen guiding principles for lawmakers, focusing on protecting children, preventing electricity costs from surging, respecting intellectual property rights, preventing censorship and educating Americans on using the technology.
Companies that committed to Trump’s pledge to protect ratepayers include Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI and Amazon. The companies agreed to build or buy new sources of power generation for their data centers and cover the expense of infrastructure upgrades.
Parents see hope in back-to-back rulings that social media providers failed to protect young users
Walker Montgomery was just 16 when someone pretending to be a teenage girl messaged him through Instagram and seduced him into cybersex.
Within hours he was dead. Caught up in a sextortion scheme, the Mississippi teen killed himself.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.
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His father, Brian Montgomery, will never get over losing his son but he was among many parents celebrating this week as social media giant Meta lost two court cases where juries in different states ruled the platforms hook young users without concern for their well being.
Montgomery sees it as a reckoning.
“We’re talking about the most financially sound business that the planet has ever known. This will set an expectation,” said Montgomery on Wednesday after juries in New Mexico and Los Angeles found social media providers failed to protect young users.
And he isn’t alone.
Other parents agree: There have been too few safeguards, and kids are suffering.
The first blow came Tuesday when jurors in New Mexico sided with state prosecutors who argued that Meta — which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp — prioritized profits over safety and imposed a $375 million penalty.
Then on Wednesday, jurors in a separate case in Los Angeles found that Meta and Google-owned YouTube designed their platforms to hook young users without concern for their well being. The companies issued statements vowing to explore their legal options, which includes appeals.
The verdicts illustrate a growing shift in the public’s perception of social media companies and their responsibilities in keeping young people safe on their platforms.
For years, social media companies have disputed allegations that they harm children’s mental health through deliberate design choices that addict kids to their platforms and fail to protect them from sexual predators and dangerous content. This year, several state and federal court cases are heading to trial, and while the details may vary, they all seek to hold companies responsible for what happens on their platforms.
Montgomery, not a plaintiff in either case, said the next step is legislation. “They’ve proven,” he said of the social media industry,” that they can’t regulate themselves.”
He said his son — an athlete who loved the outdoors — went to bed happy before encountering a scammer from Nigeria.
“We didn’t get to see him the next morning,” the farmer and crop insurance salesman said, a picture of his son, taken during a duck hunting trip just months before his Dec. 1, 2022, death, displayed on his desk.
He is struck now by a mix of joy and sadness, knowing the change he sees coming is too late for his family. “Walker’s not coming back,” he said.
In Dedham, Massachusetts, on the outskirts of Boston, Deb Schmill, understands all too well the messy mix of emotions the rulings bring. Her daughter, Becca Schmill, was 18 in September 2020 when she died of fentanyl poisoning from drugs she purchased through a social media platform.
“That’s the painful part of all of this,” said Schmill, also not a plaintiff in the lawsuits. “If this could have been done five years ago, 10 years ago. Things would be so different.”
Her daughter’s overdose happened after the teen was sexually assaulted by someone she met online and then became a victim of revenge porn.
“She was a wonderful child, but she was just tortured,” said her mother.
Like Montgomery, she has advocated for a bill aimed at protecting kids from the harms of social media, gaming sites and other online platforms. Called the Kids Online Safety Act, it has passed the U.S. Senate two years ago, but not the House.
With appeals and any settlement discussions, the cases against social media companies could take years to resolve. And unlike in Europe and Australia, tech regulation in the United States is moving at a glacial pace.
“We know, the parents know better than anyone that when we are unable to hold the social media companies accountable, children die,” she said. “And it’s just absurd that this is happening in our country.”
Parents less hard-hit by tragedy are also growing wary. As Charles Halley dropped his son off at an Alameda, California, school, he explained that the fifth-grader doesn’t have a phone because of concerns that social media is harmful for kids.
“The divisiveness, the beauty standard, consumerism, just everything that’s wrong with society kind of packaged up and marketed to kids,” he said.
He said parents are fed up and organizing in an effort to curtail the harms, although he isn’t certain they can be stopped altogether.
“People my age, younger, older, have seen what social media has done to our behavior, the way we deal with each other,” he said, describing crashes caused by people who can’t stay off their phones. “And I would just assume that the effect is magnified for kids whose brains are still developing, and it’s just a shame to see them exposed that way.
“That’s why I’m keeping my kid off social media.”
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Terry Chea contributed from Alameda, California.
EU targets Snapchat over child safety and accuses porn sites of failing to block minors
LONDON — European Union regulators are investigating Snapchat over concerns the platform isn’t doing enough to protect kids and exposing them to risks such as increased vulnerability to child predators or recruitment by criminals.
The 27-nation EU’s executive Commission said Thursday it was opening a formal investigation into Snapchat under the bloc’s sweeping rule book known as the Digital Services Act that’s designed to protect internet users.
The European Commission said that Snapchat requires users to be at least 13 to use the platform but it suspected that the company’s “age assurance” system is “insufficient” at keeping them off.
Regulators said the system is also not properly checking whether a user is under 17, which it needs to do in order to give them an “age appropriate” experience. They also worried that age checking systems aren’t preventing adults from posing as minors.
The commission suspects Snapchat isn’t doing enough to protect minors from being contacted by “users with harmful intent, such as sexual exploitation or recruitment for criminal activities.”
Snapchat’s systems also aren’t good enough at preventing underage users from seeing information about illegal or restricted products like drugs, vapes or alcohol.
Snapchat “appears to have overlooked” the DSA’s “high safety standards for all users,” said Henna Virkkunen, the commission’s executive vice president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy.
The investigation will scrutinize Snapchat’s compliance with EU legislation, she said.
Snapchat has “fully cooperated” with the Commission by “engaging proactively, transparently and working in good faith to meet the DSA’s high safety standards – and we will continue to do so throughout this investigation,” the company said in a statement.
User safety and well-being is a “top priority” and the platform is designed with “privacy and safety built in from the start, including additional protection for teens,” it said.
The probe adds to pressure that social media companies are facing on both sides of the Atlantic over the welfare of young people. On Wednesday, a California jury awarded millions of dollars in damages to a 20-year-old woman after deciding that Meta and YouTube designed their platforms to hook young users without concern for their well being.
A day earlier, a New Mexico jury handed a $375 million penalty to Meta after determining the company knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms.
Meanwhile, the EU accused TikTok earlier this year of breaching the DSA with “addictive design” features that lead to compulsive use by children, and has been investigating Facebook and Instagram since 2024 over child protection shortcomings.
Also Thursday, Brussels accused four of the world’s biggest pornographic websites, Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos, of failing to protect children from adult content on their websites, following an investigation opened last year.
The Digital Services Act requires internet companies and online platforms to do more to protect European users from things like harmful content and suspect merchandise, or risk hefty fines worth up to 6% of annual revenue.
Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
In preliminary findings, regulators said the site operators failed to “diligently identify and assess” risks to children and didn’t use effective measures to stop them from accessing their services.
“Children are accessing adult content at increasingly younger ages and these platforms must put in place robust, privacy-preserving and effective measures to keep minors off their services,” Virkkunen said.
The porn sites now have chance to respond to the accusations before the commission issues a final decision.
URC: Forget URC – Scarlets face a Test match in Dublin
Leinster: Jimmy O’Brien; Tommy O’Brien, Ringrose, Osborne, Kenny; Byrne, Gibson-Park; Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, Joe McCarthy, Deeny, Deegan, van der Flier, Doris (capt).
Replacements: Gus McCarthy, Cahir, Slimani, O’Tighearnaigh, Soroka, Gunne, Prendergast, Henshaw.
Scarlets: Murray; Rogers, J Roberts, Williams, Mee; Hawkins, Blacker; Mathias, Harry Thomas, Holz, Lousi, Douglas, Taylor, Davis, Anderson (capt).
Replacements: G Roberts, S O’Connor, Henry Thomas, Ball, T Davies, A Hughes, I Jones, Page.
Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (SARU)
Assistants: Peter Martin (Ireland), Chris Lough (IRFU)
TMO: Quinton Immelman (SARU)