No Social Security COLA? No Way, Senators Say

The senators stated that the bill would lift more than 1 million Americans out of poverty, with the cost of the emergency payment covered by closing a tax loophole allowing corporations to write off executive bonuses as a business expense for “performance pay.”

The “substantial additional revenue saved” by closing the CEO compensation loophole would be used to bolster and extend the life of the Social Security and disability trust funds, the senators state.

“It is unacceptable that millions of senior citizens and disabled veterans did not receive a cost-of-living adjustment this year to keep up with their rising living expenses,” Sanders stated. “At a time when senior poverty is going up and more than two-thirds of the elderly population rely on Social Security for more than half of their income, our job must be to expand, not cut, Social Security.”

At the very least, he added, “we must do everything we can to make sure that every senior citizen and disabled veteran in this country receives a fair cost-of-living adjustment to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs and health care.”