WASHINGTON – Yesterday, millions of seniors and disabled Americans were told there will be no cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security recipients next year. Today, Rep. Alan Grayson is introducing legislation to fix that.
This afternoon, Rep. Grayson will introduce The Seniors Deserve a Raise Act. This legislation will tie future COLAs to the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E), which weighs more heavily the items that seniors spend more of their money on.
For example, since seniors spend more on health care than younger people, the CPI-E uses those cost increases more to determine what COLA is appropriate. The Congressional Research Service estimates that using CPI-E since 1976 would have meant $388 BILLION more in payments to our seniors over the past 39 years.
Yesterday, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced it will not be implementing a COLA for 2016. This is terrible news for the tens of millions of millions of seniors, and others, who depend on these payments. The fact that the SSA determines its COLA using a consumer price index that is based on the spending of urban workers, and not seniors, has caused the SSA to shortchange them.
“Simply put, most of our parents and grandparents desperately need a raise. And they clearly deserve one,” Grayson said. “My bill calls for a 2.9% COLA for 2016, and ensures we give them a more accurate cost-of-living increase in the years ahead. Our seniors are seeing their costs rise – their Social Security payments need to rise as well.”
