The Honorable Chuck Schumer
S–221 Capitol Building
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Elizabeth Warren
311 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senators Schumer, Wyden and Warren,
On behalf of the millions of members and supporters of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, I am writing to endorse your legislation, the Social Security Emergency Inflation Relief Act. Members of the National Committee come from all walks of life and every political persuasion. What unites them is their passion for protecting and strengthening Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the other programs that are so vitally important to older Americans.
The Social Security Emergency Inflation Relief Act would protect Social Security, Veterans, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries from the inflation and economic chaos triggered by President Trump’s disastrous, across-the-board tariffs. The legislation would increase Social Security benefits by $200 per month through the end of the year—providing relief to millions of Americans who live on a fixed income and cannot keep up with the cost increases that will inevitably result from President Trump’s economic policies.
Seniors and people with disabilities are among those who will be especially harmed by President Trump’s trade wars. Although federal benefits are adjusted annually for inflation, beneficiaries will not see their checks increase until January 2026, many months after tariffs cause companies to raise prices. In recent interviews, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has admitted that some of the cost of the tariffs “may get passed on to consumers”, a chilling statement for those on fixed incomes. Your bill will provide substantial relief to millions of Americans in the intervening months, while their costs are increasing but their benefits remain stagnant.
To further exacerbate the problem, the current index for calculating inflation that determines Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) does not accurately reflect the market-basket of goods typically relied on by seniors and Americans with disabilities, and therefore underestimates the impact of inflation on beneficiaries. Inaccurately calculated inflation only compounds the impact of tariffs on vulnerable populations as they fall further and further behind the pace of increasing costs. We strongly urge Congress to replace the Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W) with a fully developed Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) to calculate COLAs in the future.
Half of seniors rely on Social Security for half of their income, and Social Security is the sole source of income for one in four seniors, leaving them extremely vulnerable to the impact of price increases. Americans receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) are subject to strict rules limiting their ability to earn outside income, which makes these individuals and their families even more reliant on their benefits keeping pace with their cost of living.
While the tariff wars are raging, President Trump and Elon Musk are taking a chainsaw to the Social Security Administration (SSA), cutting staff, offices, and phone services, making it harder for seniors to claim the benefits they have earned, at a time when they need their monthly checks more than ever. According to SSA itself, the chaos at the agency has driven many Americans to claim their benefits earlier than they had planned, thus locking in lower benefit levels for the rest of their lives. This Administration’s gutting of SSA staff is especially galling when one considers that American workers have already paid for the cost of administering the Social Security program through the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) payments they make with every paycheck.
The National Committee commends you for your lifelong dedication to America’s seniors, and we look forward to working with you to see the Social Security Emergency Inflation Relief Act become law.
Sincerely,
Max Richtman
President and CEO