After the recent announcement that Social Security recipients will not receive a cost-of-living (COLA) increase in 2016, U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Dist. 9), Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Patrick Murphy (D-FL) issued a joint statement and unveiled new legislation.
“Social Security is the bedrock of retirement security for millions of Americans," the House trio said. "Two-thirds of seniors rely on their earned Social Security benefits for the majority of their income, one-in-three for virtually all of it. With the erosion of pensions and retirement savings, Social Security is now more important than ever for hard-working Americans. Today’s announcement that there will be no COLA increase next year means that they will struggle to pay for the increased cost of medical care, food and other basic necessities."
Schakowsky, Matsui and Murphy also introduced House Resolution 393, which links the annual COLA to the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) to help protect Social Security benefits from inflationary erosion.
The Social Security Act was signed into law in 1935 by President Roosevelt as a safety net for the elderly. Many people's retirement savings were wiped out in the stock-market crash in 1929 and subsequent bank failures.
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