Thanks to the pandemic, Social Security won't be able to pay out all its benefits by 2034

• The latest report from the trustees of Social Security says the program will run out of money for full payments by 2033.
• That's a year earlier than previously projected; the report estimates the impact of the pandemic.
• There is precedent for Congressional action to revitalize the program's funding.

Social Security is set to run out of funds for full payments in 2034, a year earlier than the previously predicted 2035, according to a new report from the US Treasury Department.

If no action is taken by 2034 to shore up the fund, "the combined funds' reserves will become depleted and continuing tax income will be sufficient to pay 78 percent of scheduled benefits," the report said.

The report blamed the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession for moving up the date that full payments will stop.

Warnings about how long Social Security's reserves could hold up have been coming for years. The projections from the program's Trustees reflect their "best estimates" of the pandemic's impact. The trustees also project that that mortality rates will be elevated through 2023 due to the pandemic.

"Having strong Social Security and Medicare programs is essential in order to ensure a secure retirement for all Americans, especially for our most vulnerable populations," Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said in a statement. "The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to safeguarding these programs and ensuring they continue to deliver economic security and health care to older Americans."

The Social Security Administration's Acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi said that the program serves 65 million beneficiaries.

Notably, as the AARP reports, that doesn't mean that Social Security will go full broke in 2034 - it'll just run out of its current surplus and rely on what's brought in from taxes. That amount is what's projected to not fund 100% of the benefits, but instead just 78%.

As the Associated Press reports, there's also precedent for Congressional action to replenish Social Security and its funding mechanism. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan worked alongside a bipartisan Congressional commission to pass a plan to reform the program's funding and structure.

"A tumultuous debate about Social Security has raged for more than two decades in this country; but there has been one point that has won universal agreement: The Social Security system must be preserved," Reagan said at the signing of the Social Security Amendments.