This week, members of both Houses of Congress wrote to President Biden to ask him to include improvements to the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program in his upcoming American Families Plan. Specifically, members asked Biden to support reforms that would:

• Raise benefits for low-income older adults and people with disabilities above the federal poverty line 
   
• Increase the SSI asset limit so that people receiving benefits can save more than $2,000 in countable resources
   
• Update income exclusions so that people can keep more of the money they earn or receive from other sources, such as Social Security retirement benefits and pensions
   
• Eliminate the marriage penalty and in-kind support and maintenance rules that reduce benefits for people who receive shelter or food assistance from their family or friends

President Biden supported these reforms during his campaign, and now is the time to make them happen. These reforms would not only support economic equality, but also advance racial justice. Nearly 1 in 4 Black and Latino Americans who receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) also receive SSI because of the low level of their disability insurance benefits. These reforms would reduce poverty and disproportionately impact people with disabilities and people of color.

The letter was cosponsored in the House by Congress members Jamaal Bowman, Raul Grijalva, Katie Porter, Peter DeFazio, Danny Davis, and Bill Pascrell, along with 27 other Representatives, and in the Senate by Senators Sherrod Brown, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Ron Wyden, along with 15 other Senators.