Social Security Expansion Act Highlights

The sponsor of the Social Security Expansion Act, Senator Bernie Sanders, released a fact sheet that provides some highlights of the bill. It also contains some interesting about the Social Security system itself.

Social Security Facts

The fact sheet points out that over its 80 years of existence, “Social Security has paid out every benefit owed to every eligible American on time and without delay.” This crucial institution has proven its reliability over decades. We can not afford to abandon it now.

“One out of every five seniors are trying to survive on an income of less than $13,500 a year.” It’s absolutely unacceptable 20% of seniors are living on just $1,125 a month. Our representative must do something immediately to change this.

Facts about the Legislation

It will “extend the solvency of Social Security for about 52 years to the year 2071” by lifting the cap on Social Security taxes. This ensures the wealthiest among us pay a fairer amount in relation to their income. Currently, someone making “$20 million a year pays the same amount of money into Social Security as someone who makes $132,900.” The vast majority of workers (98.2%) won’t be affected by this.

Lower-income workers would see a $1,300 yearly boost to their Social Security benefits. That would be about a 10% increase for the retirees mentioned above who collect just $13,500 a year. This would surely be life-changing to many.

By “adopting the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E),” the legislation will improve the annual Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) formula. This formula better represents how senior citizens use their money compared to the rest of America’s population.

The Social Security Expansion Act also will assist lower-income workers “by updating the Special Minimum Benefit to make it easier for them to qualify and by increasing and indexing the benefit level so that it is equal to 125 percent of the poverty line.”