Congressman Raúl Grijalva is on board to update the Supplemental Security Income program, which has not been dusted off since Nixon signed it into law back in 1972. SSI is supposed to aid vulnerable seniors and people with severe disabilities so that they don’t end up on the streets. The problem with it right now is that it is so outdated that a lot of individuals badly in need of the income help are not getting it.
Grijalva joined forces with Democratic U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown, as well as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, to introduce The Supplemental Security Restoration Act of 2015.
From a press release sent by Grijalva’s office:
The legislation will restore the original intent of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program…The outdated benefits formulas penalize program participants for working, for saving money and for receiving assistance from family members.
With inadequate financial support and provisions preventing participants from receiving income elsewhere, SSI is locking many of the 8.4 million Americans enrolled in it into the very life of poverty it was intended to prevent. The Supplemental Security Restoration Act of 2015 makes modest improvements to the program by raising the asset limit, updating earned and unearned income disregard rules, and modernizing certain financial eligibility rules.
“SSI’s 1972-era solutions for modern-day challenges are painfully inadequate for the elderly and disabled Americans who rely on it,” said Rep. Grijalva. “Our cost of living has increased more than five-fold since then, yet SSI’s financial support remains frozen in time. What’s worse, its requirements are increasingly restrictive as it falls further out of pace with our society. Many recipients are now subjected to the very life of poverty it was intended to prevent. While others with the slightest assistance from Social Security or a caring relative are penalized or even blocked from the program entirely. It’s time to ensure this lifeline lives up to its original intent, and provides assistance designed to meet 21st century needs.”
The Supplemental Security Restoration Act of 2015 has 25 co-sponsors in Congress and the endorsement of 70 national organizations. Rep. Grijalva is a prominent voice in the effort to update SSI, and previously introduced similar legislation in the 113th Congress.
This article appears in May 14-20, 2015.
Yup there’s an election coming. Let’s dust off the hope and promise thing and run it by the low info voters again. It works every time.
It was meant to go along with the small income that is why it is called supplemental security income. I do believe it is for people that has paid into the system. I know before I got my first disability check I did receive a ssi check then I got my disability check so we no longer get ssi.
You either get one or not the other, it wasn’t meant to live on, merely to help. Most people on SS disability can work, but chose not to. I know more people on disability than on the regular SS. No wonder the fund is bankrupt.
Grijalva has a good idea once in a while. If we have SSI we should make it work to get people out of poverty, not keep them in.