They need the raise to pay for healthcare and food
The Association of Mature American Citizens said today that a new bill it has been promoting in Congress to provide a 1% Cost of Living increase in 2016 Social Security and Veterans benefits has been introduced in the House of Representatives.
“It’s a bi-partisan initiative sponsored by Representatives Frank Guinta (R-NH) and Kyrsten Sinema, (D-AZ) and it provides for a 1% COLA increase in checks for seniors and veterans starting in January,” according to AMAC president Dan Weber.
Weber issued an urgent appeal to the association’s 1.3 million members and the public at large to contact their lawmakers. “Just by making one phone call you can increase your Social Security income for next year. The more calls they get the better the chances are for passage”, Weber said.
The Social Security Administration announced in October that there would be no Cost of Living benefits increases next year.
It’s only the third time in the last 40 years that nearly 70 million Americans will be denied a COLA in FY 2016. The government concluded that due to a flat year-to-year Consumer Price Index, a major component of which is the price of gasoline which fell sharply from 2014 to 2015, senior citizens and veterans should be denied a much-needed benefits increase.
“With many experts predicting even greater increases in healthcare and food costs, H.R. 4140 offers welcomed relief to cash-strapped seniors and veterans,” Weber said.
“But our Congressmen and Senators need to hear that we really need the help”, he concluded.
It will provide senior citizens and veterans with a one-time, 1% payment equal to a 1% Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA). Its sponsors said that the cost of the one-time payment is estimated to be between $9 and $11 billion but will be offset by an equal amount of federal spending cuts. Read full bill here.
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I am 66 years old . I worked my adult life until 1999 . My Social Security check is … get this , a whopping $358.00 a month . That’s IT ! I have 22 medications I have to co-pay every month . If it were not for my legally blind husband , we’d both be sleeping in some gutter in Harnett County N.C. I’m certain , there MUST BE … some kind of help SOMEWHERE ! I can’t afford a lawyer and suffer from Battered Women’s Syndrome , PTSD , Crippling Migraines , and Extensive Short Term Memory Loss caused from 28 years of beatings at the hands of my ex-husband , I’m so stuck … I feel with my Heat Related Asthma I might not ever be able to leave our home , with the fear of passing out . So I am COMPLETELY HOUSE BOUND ! I can’t understand how they expect the Elderly Severely Beaten to live on that pay . If anyone can help , I’d be grateful . God Bless .
Well the govements needed to stop :giving themselves raises & give it to us who r the black bone of this nation we worked our asse off all our lives & get very little to live on .i would Love to see them live on what we do . they wouldn’t make it. Let theme at cat or dog food. The gas prices mean not a dann thing to most of us seniors we don’t drive cause we can’t afford car so stop using that .plus if fast food worked get $15. Per hour then u dann Well better do better by us remeber where u all came from . its called ur parents do u want them out on the streets I think not well neither do any of us we desrver so much better than we r getting …
What happens 2 us seniors when this &15.00 a hour comes. This just gives the young more money 4 dope & cigarettes.It takes food & housing from us Seniors. We are the Back Bone whitout us where would every one be
Gas America gone 2 he’ll.wake up & help us Seniors who can’t work.
Please help us seniors with a pay raise. When they get $15.00. He. Us seniors will be eating Dig food It’s takes every dime to live now. What will happen 2 us. Please some one help us. The seniors help the younger people & help put them where they are today
My medical coverage has gone up & I need this coverage because of all the medications I take & the doctor’s I have to see. Plus my EBT Card used to be $189 per month which was fine – now they cut me
down to $71.00 per month for food. A lot of the time I eat brown rice for a meal in order to stretch my
budget. If the politicians would stop voting in their annual raises and give me back my $189 on my EBT card I could survive a little better or give me a COLA raise. I’m 73 years old. Please help.
I saw to you get off your ass and get a job…….you complaining about money. I am 76 and I work 2 part time jobs. I have my social security which is the top payout……I have worked for 55 years and enjoy every minute of it….I am not a lazy bum living off the government food stamps………good grief. BLAMING everyone else for your misfortune.
The Social Security system is badly in need of reform; we all can agree with that. But for those who are already dependent on it, and who have forcibly been made to pay into it all their lives, there should be annual adjustments (COLA) even if they are small ones.
We need to move forward with educating the younger generations that they will eventually (and soon) need to be prepared to fend for themselves in their latter years, as at some point, SS will cease to exist as we know it today. But we also need to be fair to those who have paid into it all their lives.
How is it our government can send billions in our tax payer dollars to foreign countries like a Iran and yet the senior citizens of America must survive on the same small benifits we have had?
Social Security was not meant to be your only means of money in retirement…….I saved my money and invested as much as I could. I still work at part time job…..I am not a lazy fat ass living on food stamps, smoking cigarettes, and drinking booze all day……guess you weren’t thinking about saving back in the 80s…..if you had a job at all…….
I joined AMAC because it purports to be a Conservative organization that counter-balances the AARP. On this issues it seems the organizations are allied. If the law controlling Federal COLA says there will be none unless certain cost of living measures are met, then AMAC should not be supporting a way to sneak around the law. We recognize that Social Security is in dire straights and will fail unless reform is accomplished. The longer we delay in accomplishing reform, the more painful it will ultimately be. This effort to pull more money out of the system now, and thus for every year in the future, hastens the day of reckoning.
AMAC, it doesn’t work like you think it does. If we get an increase, the state takes it away from us. We don’t get to keep it. it’s an increase for the state, not recipients.
what state do you live in? Illinois doesn’t tax s.s.
This is the 2nd time for no COLA under Obama’s Administration. The reason given was because the price of gas was so low. However everything else went up. I would not be surprised that if this Bill fails and we go past Jan. gas prices will go up and we will get screwed again. Rent, utilities (even cable), food and other areas all increased. I am one of those low income persons who depend on this COLA increase every year, am having to make cuts to continue with what I now receive. OOh yes Food Stamps went down also, have to pay for those illegals getting benefits somehow.
Mary, the state will just take away more food stamps. Spenddowns (deductibles on medically needy) will take it all. And rents go up, too. All because we get an increase. I know the food stamps went down – I don’t understand why because nothing changed – but if we get an increase, we will lose even more. We can’t win.
don’t you all know the Republicans want to lower our social programs and the reductions will continue to be lower as long as the republicans have the majority in the house and senate……..ya’ll always vote against your own best interest…….the GOP thinks we spend to much on social programs……and your man trump will go right along with them on this……
That is so petty, RogerW. I can spell just fine, sometimes my spell check substitutes words but it didn’t change the message so that’s all that count.
You sound like the young posters I read on Twitter who don’t have anything better to say so they demean or criticize another poster personally. It adds nothing to the conversation but certainly makes them come across as immature. It makes me wonder if you really are a “troll” and not even a senior citizen. Have a nice weekend.
I called my representative and was informed the bill is HR 4144. I asked twice to make sure.
If inflation is flat, why are Medicare Part B premiums going up 16% in January?
I paid into Social Security and Railroad Retirement long enough to qualify for both. Why is my S.S. payments sent to Railroad Retirement Board instead of to me? I earned it and it is taken away from me…
STOP THE IRS FROM TAXING OUR SS CHECK AMT. WE ALREADY PAID TAX ON IT.
AND STOP GIVING OUR SS CHECKS TO PEOPLE WHO DID NOT PAY INTO IT.
WHY WORK IF OUR GOVERNMENT WILL GIVE YOU A CHECK FOR NOT WORKING.
RITA MAYER: Yes SS taxes were deducted from your paycheck BUT the companies you worked for paid the same amount for you which you did not pay taxes on as you were working. That is what you are now paying taxes on. That is the reason they reduce your SS income in half before determining your taxes. Ask the person who does your taxes to show you how they are determined.
NO one who has not paid into social security can get it……..you are listening to fox news way to much……NO ONE gets SS if they do not have enough quarters worked……..how stupid are you
Why is Amac promoting this bill, which proposes ONLY a 1% increase when S.2251 and H.R.4144 proposes a 3.9% one time payment based on the recipient’s ANNUAL income. This is the difference (to me) of receiving $130.00 under H.R.4140 and receiving $670.00 under the other two proposals?
We should get. 5% raise. We have paid in enough over the years If we started working at 15 years old to 65 to 75 years old we paid our share. Now it’s time we collect
If you agree please stand up 4 our rights together we stand please keep this going
No increases for any Government programs and no benefits for non-citizens. If you didn’t earn it and pay into it, you shouldn’t receive it.
Did you see the “poll” choices associated with this effort? What a joke. They are both insulting and arrogant. Social Security is just a big ATM, if you want to give seniors more, then take it from the other programs that tap the same tax revenue stream. If SS was an annual zero-based budget, then we’d have to see real leadership instead of free lunch for all.
This will do nothing to solidify the future of SS. AMAC says they’re conservative, but now they’re pushing for this “cut everyone but us” bill. Stopping spending has to start somewhere. Cut some wasteful spending program to pay for this, but just handing out more money that we’re borrowing from our grandchildren isn’t the answer! Adjust the COLA formula so this doesn’t happen again, but improve things, don’t just stand their with your hands out demanding something. You’re no better than any other “gimme, gimme” group!
I’m glad to hear you aren’t a hypocrite. Personally I am thankful for having worked a job for 42 years which also provided me a retirement income. However that does not mean I don’t have compassion for others who were not as lucky as I am. Have a nice day.
Sorry, My comment above was in response to RogerW.
Well HAM, I have to say this site certainly seems to have gone downhill. I logged on to just see how things were going and what do I read but numerous people hurling insults at anyone who doesn’t agree with them. So much for having a rational exchange of ideas. You have more patience for replying to some of these folks than I do at this point.
Thanks PAULE. I would hate to lose the privilege of being able to post comments here because some abuse the privalege and AMAC decides to shut down the comments. Just because people’s identities are anonymous doesn’t give anyone the right to insult others or use offensive language here.
HAM. Perhaps you should have gotten an education and learned some English. It would help you to communicate if you were able to spell simple words like “privilege.” That could be why you are in a position of relying on a scumbag like Barack Obama for his table scraps.
My medical supplemental insurance I have to take because of the gap that Medicare doesn’t pay raises the payment amount more each year by more than what I would receive in the 1% increase. My Part D prescription drug plan that is mandatory increases each year also so how do seniors on a fixed income deal with these increases? Stop eating!!! Why not attack the career welfare recipients instead. I’m in favor of helping people who need assistance but only to get them on their feet and seek employment.