excalibur
Diamond Member
- Mar 19, 2015
- 18,178
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Another $45 billion for Ukraine, a war that would have long been over had we minded our own business. And there will be more billions after this no doubt for more war between Ukraine and Russia. Plus we will get suckered into billions to help rebuild Ukraine.
But nothing was done for Americans on SSDI or SSI, programs that affect the neediest Americans and which have not been modernized in decades. Even a simple change to how much in assets a person can have couldn't get approved because of money(!), while Congress under Democrats has spent trillions in wasteful spending with their bills of 2021 and 2022.
Add in billions and billions for the Biden Hordes of illegals and we see that Democrats really don't give a damn about Americans but prefer the foreign.
Lacked bipartisan support? Democrats control both Houses and the White House. Had Biden really cared he would have publicly come out for this these past few weeks. But Democrats really don't care about the poor fellow Americans while sending tens of billions overseas and to their union friends here in America.
It once again exposes Democrats as xenophiles.
But nothing was done for Americans on SSDI or SSI, programs that affect the neediest Americans and which have not been modernized in decades. Even a simple change to how much in assets a person can have couldn't get approved because of money(!), while Congress under Democrats has spent trillions in wasteful spending with their bills of 2021 and 2022.
Add in billions and billions for the Biden Hordes of illegals and we see that Democrats really don't give a damn about Americans but prefer the foreign.
Lacked bipartisan support? Democrats control both Houses and the White House. Had Biden really cared he would have publicly come out for this these past few weeks. But Democrats really don't care about the poor fellow Americans while sending tens of billions overseas and to their union friends here in America.
It once again exposes Democrats as xenophiles.
Lawmakers have decided not to change one of the federal governmentās most outdated welfare rules as part of a government funding bill set to pass this week.
Disabled Americans receiving monthly benefits from the Supplemental Security Income program arenāt allowed to have more than $2,000 in savings or else the Social Security Administration docks their payments.
Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) introduced a bill raising the asset limit to $10,000 for individuals and $20,000 for couples, but the measure has been omitted from end-of-year spending legislation that was its last chance to become law.
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Social Security Administration, said the measure lacked broad bipartisan support, partly because lawmakers viewed it as opening a can of worms.
āIt didnāt get into this deal because Social Security issues were not in this bill,ā Crapo told HuffPost.
Brown, Portman and some like-minded colleagues first tried to attach the asset limit fix to a broader bill aimed at improving tax benefits for retirement savings, which the Finance Committee approved over the summer. They argued that if Congress wanted to enhance retirement security for people with tax-advantaged savings accounts, then it should let disabled people have balances of more than $2,000 without risking their monthly income.
Crapo and Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) didnāt want the amendment as part of the retirement bill, which wound up included in the year-end spending bill known as an omnibus. There was still a chance this week that the asset limit fix could catch a ride on the omnibus, too, but its $10 billion cost probably weighed it down in backroom negotiations.
Roughly 8 million Americans receive SSI benefits, which will max out at $914 per month next year. (Itās a separate program from Social Security Disability Insurance, which requires a work history and has higher monthly payments.)
Applicants for SSI benefits must agree to let the government check their bank accounts to make sure theyāre poor and to tell the authorities if someone regularly gives them food. The rules havenāt been changed since 1989; if the asset limit had kept pace with inflation, it would be nearly $5,000 today.
Kathleen Romig, director of social security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank, said itās a shame Congress will update retirement tax policies, but not a rule essentially prohibiting millions of poor people from saving money.
āThe omission of SSI asset limits is particularly unfortunate since the bill expands egregious tax breaks for those near or in retirement, like letting wealthy people wait until 75 before they are even required to touch their tax-favored āretirementā account,ā Romig wrote Tuesday in a Twitter thread.
Republicans supported changing the asset limit because itās stuck at $2,000 for individuals and $3,000 for couples, meaning itās an obvious āmarriage penalty.ā Most tax and welfare policies go double for couples.
āI think itās a very Republican ideaā to change the limit, Portman told HuffPost this week.
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Congress Won't Lift Ban On Savings For People On Disability
A bill to change Supplemental Security Incomeās strict asset limit had bipartisan support, but not enough to become law.
www.huffpost.com