Policy

Support the SSI Restoration Act

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a federal income support program designed to help elderly or disabled people who have limited income and resources meet their basic needs. It is a lifeline to many, but many of its provisions related to eligibility have not been updated in several decades, which has meant that SSI recipients have needed to endure extreme poverty in order to keep their benefits. For example, the amount of earned income an SSI recipient is allowed to bring in each month without seeing a reduction in their SSI benefits is currently $65 – a figure that hasn’t been adjusted, for inflation or otherwise, since 1972. SSI’s asset limits, which are currently $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a married couple, haven’t been updated since 1989.

United Spinal supports the SSI Restoration Act (H.R. 4280/S. 2753), which would increase SSI’s asset limits to $10,000 for an individual and $20,000 for a married couple, while removing financial penalties that prevent many couples from marrying. It would also increase the amount of income an SSI recipient can earn each month without incurring penalties to $399. It is long past time these rules were updated to allow people with disabilities to keep their SSI benefits without being forced into extreme poverty.

Please join us in this effort by contacting your members of Congress today to let them know that you support the SSI Restoration Act.

United Spinal Association Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Restoration Act of 2019.H.R.4280.pdf

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