People who paid into Social Security throughout their working lives could see their monthly checks cut by 22% as early as 2032 unless Congress acts, according to a new report from the program’s trustees.

About 1 in 5 Americans receive Social Security benefits, and the program is the largest source of income for many people who can no longer work.

Bill Sweeney, senior vice president for government affairs at AARP, pointed to recent polling showing 8 in 10 people age 50 or older do not want lawmakers to cut Social Security to save it, as they did in 1983.

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“The last thing they need to be doing, when prices for everything are going up and people are stretched so thin, is to look at cutting Social Security even further,” Sweeney said. “What they need to do is shore up the finances without cutting the benefits that people have earned.”

The revenue shortfall is largely due to declining fertility and immigration rates, which means fewer workers contributing Social Security payroll taxes. But the program is far from doomed. According to the Center on Economic and Policy Research, the shortfall is less than half the cost of increased military spending called for in the Trump administration’s 2027 budget.

Social Security has long been one of the government’s most popular programs, and Sweeney said it is the most effective anti-poverty program in the nation’s history. It is also a major economic driver.

“If anything were to happen to Social Security, it’s about $22 billion in economic impact in Colorado,” Sweeney said. “That’s a big deal. That’s going to really blow a hole in the state’s economy if Congress doesn’t fix Social Security by the time the money runs out.”

Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has reintroduced legislation that would expand Social Security benefits by $2,400 and make the program solvent for the next 75 years by removing the payroll tax cap. Currently, billionaires contribute as much to the program as someone earning $185,000 a year.

Sweeney said Colorado voters should ask congressional candidates hard questions before November’s midterm elections.

“The people who we elect are going to be the people having to decide what to do,” Sweeney said. “And so it’s really important to be asking questions of our politicians and the candidates who are running for office, what their plan is, and do their ideas for how to fix Social Security line up with what we want?”