text:  Good morning, Nova. So when politicians talk about the national debt, Social Security spending often comes up as playing a big role. Why is that? Almost 70 million Americans receive Social Security benefits, and that program pays out about $1.5 trillion a year, but that is more than the program brings in from payroll taxes. So, according to Ramina Bacha at the Cato Institute, the federal government has to use deficit spending to close that gap.