A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators attempted to increase the asset limits in the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program in legislation related to retirement savings. SSI is a federal program that provides financial assistance to individuals with disabilities and low-income older adults to help them cover their basic living expenses. 

While their effort to increase the SSI asset limit was deemed “outside the scope” of the retirement legislation being considered by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, the Senators committed to working to boost the current limits before the end of the 117th Congress. 

“Raising the limit is overdue and I believe this is the year to do it,” one of our congressional champions said during the committee meeting. You can watch the SSI program discussion on the committee webcast (1:52:14 mark).

Cure SMA, which supports modernizing the SSI program, including removing the marriage penalty, applauded the Senators for their commitment to increasing the asset limits, which are currently set at only $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for married couples. 

Cure SMA will continue to work to help make improvements to the SSI program that many individuals with SMA rely on for their basic living needs.