John,

Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, is an anti-poverty program administered by the Social Security Administration. It provides essential cash assistance for the poorest Americans. But it has strict asset limits that penalize saving and investment that are critical to helping people get out of poverty.

SSI recipients can’t have cash savings, retirement accounts, life insurance policies, investments, or amass property that might help them get out of poverty. They prevent family members from helping poor relatives financially for fear of jeopardizing their benefits. And these strict limits haven’t been updated since 1989.

Individuals don’t qualify if they have assets that exceed $2,000 in value, or $3,000 for a married couple. Those amounts are exactly the same as they were the year Taylor Swift was born.

Congress must pass the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act and update those asset limits now!

In 1989, you could get a gallon of gas or a dozen eggs for about a dollar. A movie ticket cost $4. Prices have gone up, but these asset limits haven’t.

It’s time Congress recognized that as the world changes, the law should change too.

Pass the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act!

Thank you,

Alex Lawson
Social Security Works