Big Changes to Social Security, SSDI and SSI Benefits Monthly Benefits

Some big changes to Social Security, including retirement disability, SSDI survivors, and SSI monthly benefits. I have all the details and what you need to know right here in the topic. So let’s get right into it. It’s all right now in this topic, I’m going to be breaking down several different pieces of legislation that are currently floating around Congress right now that could implement some major changes to all of these monthly benefits. And remember, any of these pieces of legislation that could get passed will change all of these benefits in a pretty big way.

As I am your one and only daily advocate and I’m very much dedicated to you and this community to continue doing all the research.

Breaking it all down into these short topics which I deliver a couple of times throughout the day. So you can stay updated with what is actually going on right now. Especially during this very busy time and as Congress continues to come out with all these new bills. Proposals. Piece of legislation.

As well as reform to these very important programs and anything else out there right now that we can possibly grab when it comes down to money. Benefits. Programs. Checks. Raises to benefits.

Or anything else that is coming up right now. and I’ll continue to be here for you, right by your side every single day to help you out in any way that I possibly can. All right? Thanks again.

Let’s jump into it and discuss all of these pieces of legislation that are out there now that will impact all of these monthly benefits. And remember, any one simple change will impact all of the programs and again, it’ll impact about 70 million beneficiaries, a lot of people and a lot of money on the line here. So let’s talk through all these details. All right, so like I said in this topic, what I want to do is go through all of these pieces of legislation. I’m not going to go into a ton of detail on all of them because we would be sitting here for like 3 hours because there’s a lot of detail.

However, I do want to buzz through all of these different pieces of legislation because there’s a bunch of them and I want to let you know what’s going on. And these are all pieces of legislation that have recently been introduced, as in the last handful of months here. So let’s talk through the details and all of these are still circling around Congress right now. All right, so let’s quickly talk about the most recent introduction here. This one is out of Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and other Democratic senators.

Now, I have talked about this one specifically in other topics, but stick with me on this one because this is just the first of several and I want to talk through the details of this one. Now, this one is called the Social Security Expansion Act. This is the one where they want to raise benefits by $200 per month. This is the classic one right now. Also, I want to make it very clear this is not the same piece of legislation that was introduced back in early 2020 by those three Democratic Senators.

No, this is a brand new one. This is the Social Security Expansion act. It was just introduced a short time ago. And this is the new iteration of the $200 per month raise. So this one again is out of Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and a handful of other Democratic Senators And the hallmark behind this one is the $200 per month raise. All right, so that is number one. Next, let’s quickly talk about another one. This one was introduced by Representative L. Lawson Not to be confused with John Larson, but rather Al Lawson. And this one is called the Social Security for Futures Generations Act. Well, within this one they want to do a variety of different changes to Social Security, make some permanent changes to the program, and ultimately make sure that these provisions are actually going into effect permanently, forever into the program. Whereas on the other hand, the Social Security 2100 has some of the provisions in there that will actually sunset after five years. So that’s another big difference between these two programs.

So again, this one is the Social Security for Futures Generation Act. And again introduced by Representative Alasin. And a couple of the main key takeaways that they want to do in here is, number one, they want to change the way that the annual cost of living adjustment is calculated. I know we’ve been talking about this a lot lately, but here’s the deal. This is very important.

If it was not for the annual cost of living adjustment, we would not be talking about a potential $100 raise per month coming to your benefits or possibly even more this coming year because of the Cola and inflation. So as of right now, the Cola isn’t all that exciting, but at the end of the day, it’s going to be pretty exciting these days because it’s going to translate into a pretty substantial raise to your monthly benefits going forward in 2023. Well, that’s one of the things that they want to change. In this one right here. The Social Security for futures generations act.

Again, they want to change it to the CPI versus the CPIW as of right now. So keep that in mind. All right, next, since I referred to it in this last little bit here, let’s go on to the Social Security 2100. This is a very popular one as well. And this again is out there in Congress now.

In fact, lawmakers want to pass this one before the midterm elections. In fact, I was just out a couple of weeks ago talking about this, how lawmakers were out, and they drafted a letter to all of their other Democratic representatives and Democratic colleagues where they want to get this one done before the midterm election. So you can see this is what they’re currently working on and this is what they want to do. The Social Security 2100. Now, this one was introduced again by Representative John Larson.

Alaskan. John Larson. I know, confusing, right? But this is what the deal is. So John Larson has been pounding the table on this bill for a long time.

This one has about a dozen different provisions within it to change Social Security, to raise benefits, and ultimately, once again, to actually change the way that the annual cost of living adjustment is calculated from the CPIW to the CPI. One quick side note, just so they have clarification on this, so you don’t have to look it up, I’ll just tell you the differences here. So the CPIW stands for Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. That is where the CPI, sorry, that is where the annual cost of living adjustment is currently calculated from. However, they want to change it to the CPI, which stands for Consumer Price Index for the Elderly.

So now that one would actually better reflect the actual living expenses for those individuals living on a fixed income like Social Security. So just to have that designation between those two, that is what those two mean and why they want to change that. Because they want the annual raise to benefits to better reflect the actual living expenses that we all incur on an ongoing monthly basis because of living on a fixed income, right? So that’s what it comes down to. All right, so again, the Social Security 2100 is a very popular one.

And this is the one that John Larson has brought to the floor in Congress. He’s talked about it. And this is again, that one that those Democratic lawmakers actually drafted the letter. They sent it out to all their Democratic colleagues and said, hey, let’s get it done before the midterm elections. What do you guys say?

Let’s rally around and let’s do it. Well, unfortunately, they haven’t done it yet, but again, that’s what they want to do here. So anyway, I’ll keep you posted as we do get more details on that one, right? All right, now let’s quickly talk about another proposal. Again, I’ve talked about this one before, but let me throw it into the mix because this one is specifically focused on SSI Supplemental Security Income and I do know that a lot of you here in the community do receive SSI Supplemental Security Income.

In fact, across the entire country, there’s about 8 million beneficiaries of SSI. This is a program administered by the Social Security Administration, but it is not technically Social Security benefits. But the SSI Restoration Act wants to do a couple of key changes to this program. Number one, the biggest one possibly is raising benefits up to the federal poverty line. That would be amazing.

That would raise benefits by a lot, about $300 per month as of right now for the fixed income beneficiaries receiving SSI, that would be a huge change. Number two, within this is also they want to remove the marriage penalty. I know that is also a big one. I’ve seen that down in the comments section many times where some of you have reached out saying, they got to get rid of this marriage penalty. It’s a bad one.

Seriously, they got to get rid of this thing. I totally agree. It’s out of date. And that’s also what lawmakers are saying as well, is why is there a marriage penalty? I don’t get it.

Why are people being penalized for being married? Doesn’t make any sense, does it? No, it doesn’t make any sense. But remember, this was put in place way back in the early 70s when SSI was actually established. So 50 years ago, things were different, but things have changed, right?

50 years later, things have changed. Therefore, a lot of lawmakers and recipients of SSI are saying, why is this here? I don’t get it. Why am I being penalized for being married? Yeah, good point Right? All right, so that is also out there as well. And then again, also they want to raise the asset levels for SSI beneficiaries. Again, this is another big provision within there. The current asset levels for individuals receiving SSI is $2,000.

For a married couple, it’s $3,000. In other words, that’s all the more money that you can have in your possession before they start saying, oh, no, you’re not eligible for benefits anymore. So they want to raise those caps from $2,000 as an individual up to $10,000, and for a married couple, from $3,000 up to $20,000. Pretty nice, right? What I would want to say to that too, is, hey, as long as you raise those limits, do you want to get us started?

What do you say? Do you want to throw us, like, a little ante behind this? Right? Not bad. It never hurts to ask, right?

Yeah, you can’t get unless you ask, right? Which, quick side note, by the way, I can’t tell you how much money I’ve saved over the last, I don’t know, three, four, five years just by asking for a discount. A quick little pro tip. So if you’re ever in a situation where you’re in a negotiation with something, ask. You can’t get something unless you ask.

I can’t tell you how many thousands of dollars I’ve saved just by asking over the last couple of years.

Seriously, hey, can you give me a discount? Sure, I can give you a discount. Thanks for asking. Hey, no problem. Thanks for the discount, right?

Seriously, ask. You’ll be surprised how many times people can give you a discount just by asking, but if you don’t ask, they’re not going to give it to you. So anyway, just a little side note there I want to throw out for you, all right, so these are the major provisions out there right now. These are the major piece of legislation that I’m tracking and the ones that I would say probably have the highest likelihood of getting through here. When? Well, that’s a good question. Not really sure when, but this is something that Congress is working on. These are the things that are out there floating around Congress, and the likelihood of any of these getting passed are probably out there. I don’t want to put a percentage on how high the probability is, but these are the ones that I would say, if it comes down to Congress, these are the ones that I would say probably have the highest probability of actually getting something done. And who knows?

Maybe they come out and they cherry-pick some of the different provisions out of all of these. Maybe they come out and say, hey, we love the $200 raise out of the Social Security Expansion Act, but that’s all we like in it. Let’s take that one out. Maybe they come into the Social Security for Futures Generations Act and they say, hey, we love this out of here. Let’s take this one out.

Or maybe they love some other provisions out of the Social Security 2100 and say, hey, let’s get this one out of here. You know what I mean? So maybe they take all these different provisions out of these different piece of legislation, they put them all together and they come up with their own little bill called who knows what. I have no idea what it’s going to be called, but I’m just saying maybe they come up and they take out some of these provisions, that’s fine too. Whatever is in the best interest of the beneficiaries.

I think all of us are probably happy with it. So anyway, I want to break it down for you, let you know what’s going on out there. These are the pieces of legislation that are floating around and probably have the highest probability of actually getting something done as I do get more details or as Congress continues to work their way through any of these. Of course, I’ll be right here for you, breaking it down, letting you know what’s going on and how it’s going to impact you, your money, your benefits, your lifestyle, your bank account, and anything else out there right now.

Share the topic with your friends, family, and on social media. Again, very important, so more people can get access to this information and they can see how their benefits may actually be changed as a result of what Congress may or may not be doing.

Anyway, I’m here for you in any way that I can be. I’ll catch you again later on the next topic. Bye