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Dec 11, 2023

Support For Updating SSI

     From a press release:

In the latest sign of strong momentum for U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown’s (D-OH) bipartisan legislation to fix the Social Security Income program, the executives of the eight leading banks in the United States endorsed the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act. The legislation ... is the first bipartisan, bicameral bill to increase SSI’s asset limits and ensure disabled and elderly Americans can work and save for emergencies without putting at risk the benefits they rely on to live.  

During the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee’s annual hearing with the big bank executives, Brown described how SSI’s outdated eligibility rules lock beneficiaries in poverty and that his bill – co-sponsored by BHUA Committee member Sen. Rounds and already supported by JP Morgan Chase – would raise the asset limit. When asked if the executives would join in supporting the bill, each of them confirmed they supported the measure. ...

Introduced in September 2023, the bill is also endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Microsoft, Transunion, the Kroger Company, the Food Association, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, AARP, Bipartisan Policy Center, The Arc, National Association of Evangelicals, Faith and Freedom Coalition, Jewish Federations of North America, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, American Academy of Pediatrics, Autism Society of America, CEO Commission for Disability Employment, Cure SMA, Coalition on Human Needs, Justice in Aging, Muscular Dystrophy Association, National Down Syndrome Society, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Prosperity Now, Social Security Works, and nearly 300 other local and national organizations.  ...

6 comments:

  1. Probably not a good sign when they can't even get the name of SSI correct

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  2. Yes! People on welfare should have more resources and savings than the average American working family that is paying for SSI. It only makes sense!!!

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  3. @12:06

    Raising the limits doesn't mean SSI recipients will actually reach the limits, and I'm not sure what makes you think the average SSI recipient is more capable of saving money than the average non-disabled American worker.

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    1. They aren’t capable of saving money. That is why they do not get all of their back pay at once.

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  4. Back in the dark ages, when SSI was $140 a month, it was said that SSI was a program of last resort, that you had to pauperize yourself first via spending your own money (and resources) down to zero, you had to file for any and all benefits (so they could pay you instead of SSI), you couldn't have much in way of resources that wasn't spendable, but if your burial contract could be cashed in, you had to do it (cash it in). Ditto insurance. Point being, SSI wasn't a walk in the park but more a walk of shame.

    Glad to see that sentiment is still around in folks who read this blog (not).

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  5. I can somewhat understand a cash savings limit of $2000, but not an asset/cash limit of $2,000. Just having an old 2nd vehicle will put a person over the asset limit because used car prices have inflated an insane amount the last few years.

    And the over-payments related to pandemic assistance payments are truly shameful for SSA.

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