Pressuring Schumer On SSI Restoration Act

The Social Security Insurance Restoration Act is a piece of legislation that is available to be part of budget reconciliation if it gained enough support. Sen. Chuck Schumer is key to bringing this to the table, so that SSI benefits could be modernized for the 8 million people who rely on them. Currently, a Social Security Insurance beneficiary with no other income is living at 25 percent below the federal poverty line. The Majority Report crew discuss.

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so so talk about the the ssi restoration act then too because you know what just what what does this do i know it's raul grieva and someone who we're not necessarily flowery about on this program representative slotkin they're they're backing this uh what would this do yeah there are actually a lot of folks now who are interested in ssi and improving ssi in the hill ayanna presley has been a fierce champion representative bowman has been a fierce champion senator warren senator warren warren i i've spent the morning thinking about virginia senator warren my senator from massachusetts uh senator sanders there are a lot of folks now who on the hill who who are really paying attention and have for a long time to this uh this issue uh of improving ssi so that the ssi restoration act is this piece of legislation that's on the shelf it's ready to go it can be part of budget reconciliation senator schumer i'm talking to you it would it would do a bunch of good things it would raise that two thousand dollar asset rule to something more reasonable at least 10k so you can have some savings when the texas utility company turns off the power and you're a disabled person trying to struggle like figure out how you're going to get through the night maybe you have a little bit of savings so you can go to a motel and not die uh maybe you're in the pacific northwest and you need to buy more masks to get through fire season right increasing that asset limit it would also increase the uh right now you're allowed to these numbers haven't been updated uh since i think the 70s you're allowed to earn like 20 a month before they start penalizing you uh those numbers would be indexed to inflation so that like that things cost more they just do every year that's what inflation is in this program the the asset limits and the amount that you're allowed to earn before you're penalized haven't kept pace with inflation so it would it would increase those numbers to the uh be in in line with inflation um it would get rid of that rule that says if someone helps you out with a bag of groceries and i gotta tell you i've been there as an ssi beneficiary when the cupboard was empty and my last three dollars went to the medicaid copay that the 3.65 copay for the medication that keeps me alive uh and i didn't have any food

it would change the rule that penalizes people who get some mutual aid it would eliminate that role completely and the same thing with housing um it would it would also just increase the amount of the benefit because right now it's 794 a month which is about 75 percent of the federal poverty line it is not even it is not even level with the federal poverty line it is below the federal poverty line so for the 8 million americans who rely on ssi it would be a huge deal i've got to tell you i know it doesn't seem like a lot of money you know jumping from 75 of the federal poverty line all the way up to 100 of the federal poverty line but there were months that would have made my life a lot easier i wouldn't have been worried about being houseless or not being able to buy the medications that literally keep me alive so uh it's not a very expensive bill we're not talking about a lot of money there are about eight million americans who rely on this and the ss die restoration act would in very real meaningful and concrete ways make their lives the the lives of those eight million people including about one million kids less horrific just it's a hellscape trying to survive on ssi in the ssi restoration act which we can include in budget reconciliation ssi can be fixed through budget reconciliation ssdi can't but ssi can senator schumer you've got a chance to improve the lives of eight million americans who are struggling to make it through the end of the month