April 10, 2025 brought the first of Jeff Van Drew's Social Security votes, a deciding yes on the budget resolution that handed the tax writers $4.5 trillion to work with; May 22 brought his yes in the House bill's 215-to-214 squeaker; and on July 3 he voted for the final law, which, by Social Security's chief actuary's math, drives the program's costs up $168.6 billion between 2025 and 2034.
Trimming the tax on benefits means less revenue flows to the trust funds, and the retirement fund's exhaustion date moved up a quarter, into late 2032. That fund pays benefits to most of the 1,735,645 New Jersey residents on Social Security at the end of 2024, including 196,863 in Van Drew's own district, New Jersey's 2nd.
Jeff Van Drew's Votes That Raised Social Security's Costs
- Van Drew Voted Twice for a Law That Loads $168.6 Billion in New Costs on Social Security, in 2025. With Jeff Van Drew's yes, H.R. 1 beat 214 opponents with 215 votes on May 22, 2025; on July 3, 2025 he was again a yes as the final version carried, 218 to 214. Some of what retirees pay in income tax on their benefits goes back into Social Security, so cutting that tax drains the program: the chief actuary wrote that "the total net increase in OASDI program cost is estimated to be $168.6 billion" over ten years. The retirement trust fund's projected end now falls in the "fourth quarter of 2032, three months earlier than previously expected."
- Van Drew Tipped the April Budget Vote That Made Room for the Tax Changes, in 2025. Van Drew was a yes on April 10, 2025, as the House concurred in the Senate-amended H.Con.Res. 14, 216 to 214, a margin he alone could have erased by producing a tie, which defeats a resolution. Its tax title allowed changes that "increase the deficit by not more than $4,500,000,000,000", the space the law later used for its break on benefit taxes. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget warns that once the retirement fund is empty, "all retirees are projected to be subject to an immediate 24% benefit cut" unless Congress steps in.
What Jeff Van Drew's Votes Mean for New Jersey's Social Security Beneficiaries
- 196,863 people in Van Drew's district depend on Social Security checks his votes made less secure. Social Security Administration data for December 2024 count 196,863 beneficiaries in New Jersey's 2nd District, 151,224 of them retired workers and 22,125 disabled workers. The law leaves the trust funds with less money, and the retirement fund that pays retired workers is three months nearer to a shortfall.
- The average New Jersey retiree would lose $554 a month when the retirement fund runs short. At insolvency, an across-the-board reduction would take $554 a month from the average New Jersey retiree, more than in every state but one, in state estimates from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget; 1.6 million people, 16.3% of New Jersey, would be hit, and $9.9 billion a year in benefits would disappear from the state's economy.
- 1.74 million New Jersey beneficiaries rely on a program the law weakened by $168.6 billion. Of the 1,735,645 New Jersey residents collecting Social Security in December 2024, 1,358,286 were retired workers, and the law's $168.6 billion in added program costs over ten years is money the trust funds no longer have for their benefits.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jeff Van Drew on Social Security
What is Jeff Van Drew's record on Social Security under Trump?
Jeff Van Drew decided the April 2025 vote on the budget resolution that made room for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's tax cuts, cast a deciding vote for the House bill in May and voted for the final law in July 2025. Social Security's chief actuary puts the law's added cost to the program at $168.6 billion through 2034, and the retirement fund is now projected to run short in late 2032; 1,735,645 New Jersey residents received benefits in December 2024.
When could New Jersey retirees see a benefit cut after Jeff Van Drew's votes?
As early as the end of 2032: the law Jeff Van Drew voted for leaves the retirement fund on track to be exhausted in that year's last quarter, and from then on incoming payroll taxes would cover only about 81% of scheduled benefits, PLANADVISER reported. For New Jersey retirees, that gap would average $554 a month, the second-largest cut in the country, in CRFB's state-by-state estimate.
How many disabled workers in Jeff Van Drew's district rely on Social Security?
Jeff Van Drew's district, New Jersey's 2nd, had 22,125 disabled workers collecting Social Security in December 2024, out of 160,398 across the state, according to the Social Security Administration. After the law he voted for, the chief actuary moved the combined trust funds' depletion from the third quarter of 2034 to the first.
Last updated: 2026-10-27