Supplemental Security Income Restoration Act of 2026

Key Points

• The bill would raise SSI benefit levels to match the federal poverty guideline for individuals, and double that amount for married couples — effectively ending the so-called "marriage penalty" that currently reduces benefits when two SSI recipients marry.
• The asset limit for SSI eligibility would jump from $2,000 to $10,000 for individuals and from $3,000 to $20,000 for couples, and retirement accounts like 401(k)s would no longer count toward those limits at all.
• In-kind support — like a family member providing free meals or housing — would no longer reduce a person's SSI check, and the amount of earned income excluded before benefits are reduced would rise from $780 to $6,149 per year.
• All income and resource thresholds would be updated annually using the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers (CPI-E), ensuring that the value of benefits keeps up with the rising costs older and disabled Americans actually face.
• For the first time, the full SSI program would extend to Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa, giving low-income seniors and people with disabilities in those territories the same federal safety net available on the mainland.
• Tribal general welfare benefits would be excluded from both income and resource calculations for SSI eligibility, preventing federally recognized tribal programs from reducing a member's SSI benefits.

Votes

No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.