Bill O’Leary/Pool via REUTERS
- Sens. Brown and Portman introduced a plan to update a key Social Security program.
- They want to ensure disabled Americans can store money without losing monthly benefits.
- Currently, over 5 million SSI recipients get an average of $625.50 every month.
A Democratic and Republican senator introduced a bill to make it easier for disabled and elderly Americans to save money without getting deprived of their Social Security benefits.
Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown and GOP Sen. Rob Portman rolled out the legislation late last week. The Ohio senators say the plan aims to raise the amount of money people receiving benefits from the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program can have in their bank accounts before being cut off from payments.
SSI is an underlying part of Social Security that provides monthly cash payments to generally low-income Americans with disabilities. The asset limit for the program is currently just $2,000 for singles and $3,000 for couples. Beneficiaries who breach the limit under existing rules lose their Social Security benefits. Those cutoffs haven’t been lifted in over three decades.
The bill would lift the limits to $10,000 for individuals and $20,000 for married people filing jointly.
“We shouldn’t be punishing seniors and Ohioans with disabilities who do the right thing and save money for emergencies by taking away the money they rely on to live,” Brown said in a statement. “SSI’s arbitrary and outdated rules make no sense.”
Portman said in the same statement that he wanted to provide extra financial relief for people feeling burdened by inflation.
Currently, over 5 million SSI recipients get an average of $625.50 every month. It forms the main source of income for over half of all beneficiaries, per the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
It’s not the only policy to penalize disabled Americans. Employers are allowed to pay some disabled workers what’s called a “subminimum wage” — a wage lower than the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. Disabled Americans can risk losing disability benefits and access to Medicaid if they get married, something that Rep. Jimmy Panetta has also introduced legislation to change.
The Brown and Portman legislation’s fate is unclear since Republican support is far from assured. Brown told Insider on Tuesday that he aims do “whatever it takes” to see it become law.
He opened the door to ensuring it’s a piece of Democrats’ stalled party-line reconciliation bill, a bipartisan measure to increase competitiveness with China, or an end-of-year government spending package.
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