The rising U.S. national debt remains a major concern for lawmakers, especially for presidential candidates who are in the homestretch of the 2024 race.

While the two elders President Trump and Vice President Harris After laying out their economic vision, a financial expert said “both sides are doing America a disservice” by ignoring the “enormous cost” of Social Security.

“I’m a little upset that both Harris and Trump said there would be no change,” “What should I do with my money?” author Bryan Kuderna said Fox News Digital.

FINANCE EXPERT ISSUES WARNING ABOUT ‘ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM’ HARRIS HAS BEEN QUIET ABOUT

“There will be no cuts to Social Security. I think that appeases our older voters, but ignores some of the long-term consequences for the American economy and the gigantic deficits we are running.”

The national debt has exceeded 35 trillion dollars for the first time in the country’s history in July, surpassing the $34 trillion threshold that the United States had eclipsed in early January.

Trump and Harris’ economic agenda expected to add trillions of dollars to the pot, says Commission for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB). Trump’s plan could add about $8 trillion to the debt by 2035, up from about $4 trillion under Harris.

Social Security is one of the most important items in the American budget. According to tax data from the Department of the Treasury, it represented 22% of FY 2024 spending.

“If you look at the inflows and outflows, they have become so unbalanced relative to what Social Security was originally intended to do, which is to be a source of supplemental income for a very short period of retired life.” , said Kuderna.

Concerns have been growing for years about Social Security, but neither of the two main political candidates has taken up the subject.

“Trump, before running for president, spoke out forcefully in favor of Social Security reform. We need to bring all of this back into a state of balance. And the most obvious way to do that was to index the normal retirement age, which has happened before.”

SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS ARE INSUFFICIENT. THE PROBLEM MAY SOON GET WORSE

When the Social Security Act was enacted in 1935, the initial base retirement age was 65. About nine decades later, the retirement age has only risen two years, to 67.

“So if you look at the situation since 1945, when the normal retirement age was 65, and now we fast forward to 2024, and we can see how many Americans there are and how long we let’s live, all you’ve done is index that from 65 to 67,” Kuderna observed.

Both Trump and Harris have pledged to protect Social Security. On the the former president’s campaign website, he pledged to “fight and protect Social Security and Medicare without any cuts, including without changes to the retirement age.”

The former president called for eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits as part of his vision of reducing taxes and government regulations. THE The CRFB notes, However, this proposal alone would reduce revenues by approximately $1.3 trillion by 2035.

Financial advisor Bryan Kuderna raises concerns about former President Trump and Vice President Harris’ positions on Social Security. (Getty Images/FOX Business/Fox News)

THE vice president’s campaign promises to “protect Social Security and Medicare from the relentless attacks of Donald Trump and his extremist allies.” Harris also plans to “strengthen Social Security and Medicare over the long term by making millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share of taxes,” a key part of her economic vision.

Neither campaign has offered specific solutions to the threats facing the program.

Kuderna said a “logical” solution would be to move the normal retirement age to 70.

“It’s very reasonable, especially if you talk to younger cohorts, millennials and Gen Z, many of whom think that ‘hey, when I retire, Social security I won’t even be there. If you tell them, “Yes, it will be there,” but you’re not going to get your benefits at age 62 or at age 67 — you may have to wait until age 70 to get your full benefits — I I think it’s a fair proposal, and I think it’s a solution that can immediately save a huge amount of liability to the social security system.

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Eric Revell of FOX Business contributed to this report.