John,

Imagine if you had a disability or a medical condition that qualified you to receive Supplemental Security Insurance (SSI) cash benefits. You then meet someone, fall in love, and want to get married―but because of punitive SSI rules that disqualify married people if they have more than $3,000 in savings, you can’t get married―because you can’t afford to lose the $914 a month you receive from SSI.

This is a quandary that is faced by over 8 million people in the United States.¹

Supplemental Security Income provides a basic standard of living for very low-income seniors and people with disabilities―and together with Social Security, these programs lift more people above the poverty line than any other program. Congress established the SSI program in 1972 as a means tested program with the strictest savings limit of any federal program. Beneficiaries are only allowed $2,000 in assets for individuals and $3,000 in assets for couples. Meanwhile, the maximum benefit is only $914 per month.

This means that SSI recipients can’t have much of anything in cash, bank accounts, retirement accounts, whole life insurance policies, investments, and certain types of personal property to be eligible for the benefit, which keeps them stuck in a life of poverty.

When the SSI program was created in 1972, the asset limits were $1,500 in savings for individuals and $2,250 for couples. The limits were gradually increased between 1985 and 1989 to what they are today, but have not been adjusted for 34 years. If the asset limits had been indexed to inflation beginning in 1972, they would be $9,929 for an individual and $14,893 for a couple in 2023.²

In September of 2023, Senators Brown (D-OH) and Cassidy (R-LA) and Representatives Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Higgins (D-NY) introduced the bipartisan SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act, which would increase the asset limit from $2,000 to $10,000 for an individual and from $3,000 to $20,000 for a couple, and it would exclude retirement savings from the countable assets. With strong support from advocates and many in the business community, we’ve got a real shot of getting this legislation passed―but it’s up to us to make that happen.

People should not be condemned to poverty due to a disability. Lawmakers in both parties have seen the devastation caused when people who receive SSI aren’t able to save up money for emergencies or retirement. It’s imperative that we call on the full Congress to pass the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act now.

The limits on assets for SSI beneficiaries are unfair to individuals and families alike. They often prevent family members from seeking promotions, accepting new jobs, or saving money for fear that their loved one will lose their benefits.

During a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing with many of the nation’s largest banking executives in December, Senator Brown (D-OH) asked all the executives if they would support the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act.³ All of them said they would, with JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon testifying:

“...we have employees who don’t want us to increase their salary because if it goes over a certain amount they can’t get [the SSI] benefit, which they’re entitled to. Or, they can’t have assets over [$2,000], so it definitely should be fixed and we fully support it, and we’ll try to be as helpful as we can.”⁴

This legislation is supported by six out of ten Americans as well as major business and religious groups. The momentum for this game changer is there. It’s time for Congress to take action!

Send a direct message to Congress demanding they pass the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act today.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ SSI Monthly Statistics, November 2023
² The Case for Updating SSI Asset Limits
³ Annual Oversight of Wall Street Firms
⁴ IN LATEST SIGN OF MOMENTUM, EIGHT BANK EXECUTIVES ENDORSE BROWN’S BIPARTISAN PUSH TO FIX THE SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME PROGRAM