Today the bipartisan SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act was introduced.

Here’s a look at Supplemental Security Income’s strict savings limits, by the numbers. 1/

cbpp.org/blog/policymak…
SSI limits beneficiaries to just $2,000 in savings, $3,000 for couples. That includes cash, savings, checking, retirement, investments, college accounts, and more.

If the limit had been increased for inflation since the program’s start in 1972, it would be 5x as high today. 2/

We have a new paper out making the case for raising--or even eliminating--SSI's ridiculously low limits on saving. Please give it a read.

But first, a story. 1/

cbpp.org/research/socia… I got a note a few months ago from an SSI beneficiary in Chicago who was poised to move out of his dilapidated and rodent-infested apartment into a new, better place.

But then SSA sent him a letter saying he had gone over SSI's asset limit of just $2,000. 2/

This mini thread is for my #SocialSecurity nerds who want to know what changed in this year's Trustees' Report. 🧵

Again, Social Security's overall outlook is clear & the TRs tell a consistent story. But there are minor changes each year. Let's look. 1/

https://twitter.com/kathleenromig/status/1641834126780104705

Social Security's trustees measure the program's long-term shortfall as a percent of taxable payroll. In the 2023 Trustees' Report, it's -3.42 percent. That's a change of 0.19 percentage points from last year's report. 2/

It’s #SocialSecurity Trustees Report day!

The program’s financial outlook is about the same as last year—the projected reserve depletion date is 2034, 1 year earlier than last year.

Let's have a closer look at what that means and why it matters. 1/ ssa.gov/oact/TR/2023/t… First of all, a year's worth of fluctuation in the reserve depletion date is not a cause for alarm--or celebration, if it goes the other way!

For over a decade, every Trustees' Report has estimated a reserve depletion date between 2033 and 2035. 2/

It's Social Security & Medicare Trustees' Report week! Here's what you should know:

1. Don't been fooled by alarmist headlines. Even if Congress does nothing, Social Security can pay full benefits for 10+ yrs, and 3/4 of benefits after that. 1/

cbpp.org/blog/social-se… Same goes for Medicare. The program is not "bankrupt." Like Social Security, it faces real but manageable financing gap that we can solve *without* slashing benefits that millions of people need. 2/

cbpp.org/research/healt…

It’s been 50 years since the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program was signed into law. So how’s SSI doing, 50 years on? #SSIat50 🧵1/ Upon passage in 1972, policymakers said SSI was “designed to provide a positive assurance that the Nation's aged, blind, and disabled people would no longer have to subsist on below-poverty-level incomes.” 2/ ssa.gov/history/pdf/Do…

The #SocialSecurity Administration needs a funding boost NOW, in the stopgap funding bill.

Otherwise problems will grow for applicants & beneficiaries, who already face record-long telephone hold times and waits for disability decisions. 🧵1/

cbpp.org/blog/social-se… The fiscal year ends in just 2 weeks, so Congress must pass a stopgap funding bill (aka continuing resolution, or CR) for FY23.

That includes funds to administer Social Security & SSI, which together serve over *70M* Americans. 2/