SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act
Earlier this week, the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act was introduced in Congress.
Legal Council supports this legislation, which is a reintroduction of bipartisan, bicameral legislation to update SSI’s outdated asset limits for the first time in nearly 40 years. It would update SSI’s $2,000/$3,000 asset limits to $10,000 for individuals/$20,000 for couples and index the limits to inflation moving forward.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) provides critical benefits to more than 7 million low-income older adults and people with disabilities to help them meet basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter. But while costs for these necessities have increased over the years, SSI’s strict asset limits have not kept pace with inflation, and haven’t been updated since 1989.
An individual on SSI is not allowed to have more than $2,000 in total financial resources at any time. Married couples are only allowed $3,000.
The bipartisan SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act, championed by Senators Cortez-Masto (D-NV) and Cassidy (R-LA) and Representatives Fitzpatrick (R-PA 1st District) and Davis (D-IL 7th District) would empower millions of older people and people with disabilities to earn and save more money for their futures.
Reasons why we support the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act:
- Federal policy shouldn’t punish people for saving responsibly.
- SSI’s antiquated asset rules are a barrier to workforce participation.
- SSI’s savings penalties discourage marriage.
- SSI’s out-of-date asset limits are extremely costly for the Social Security Administration (SSA) to administer.
Action Alert: How you can support this bill
Contact your Member of Congress about the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act. With one click here, you can tell Congress to increase the SSI Asset Limit.
