Congressional Corner from Representative Bob Ney: Working for Passage of a Fair COLA for America’s Seniors

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Congressional Corner from Representative Bob Ney: Working for Passage of a Fair COLA for America’s Seniors

By Representative Bob Ney (R-OH)

I recently had the pleasure to speak with the TREA Senior Citizens League Board of Trustees. During our conversation, we discussed TSCL’s legislative priorities, including a bill on which I’m a lead co-sponsor—H.R. 2262, the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers Act. This legislation would establish a fair and accurate cost-of-living increase for America’s seniors.

Representative Bernie Sanders—the lead sponsor of H.R.2262—and I have long been concerned with the rising costs of living for our senior citizens. This year, the average Social Security beneficiary will receive only $895 per month. For seniors that rely on Social Security as their sole source of income, this means getting by on only $10,740 for the year.

The annual Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) is a small, but much-needed benefit increase for our nation’s seniors: it was 1.4 percent or approximately $13 per month for the typical retiree last year. This year seniors received a 2.1 percent increase or approximately $19 per month. However, this increase is a pittance compared to price increases for health care products, energy, and housing that are rising at a rate far greater than current Social Security benefits.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on which COLAs are based, currently keeps track of an experimental CPI that would more accurately reflect how seniors—not young urban workers—spend their money. Over the 20 years for which data are available, it demonstrates that the price of goods bought by the general public rose by 84.7 percent, while it rose by 98.5 percent for seniors.

That’s a difference of over 13 percent, which is a large amount for someone living on a fixed income. And, this experimental CPI found that seniors’ medical costs rose an astounding 221 percent during that time period. H.R. 2262 would put into use a new CPI for elderly consumers (CPI-E) so that they would see a more accurate and a fairer COLA in their Social Security checks.

It is clear that the Social Security system is NOT going to keep up with seniors’ basic life necessities unless it factors in their unique purchasing needs. In this great nation, it’s a travesty that our seniors are sometimes forced to decide between buying groceries or paying rent. I truly believe that if seniors’ COLAs were based on the fair and accurate CPI-E, they would not have to make this choice.

We must do all that we can to pass this critical legislation in the 108th Congress. Please be assured that throughout this coming year and beyond, I will continue to fight for a better quality of life for America’s seniors, including our veterans who have fought so hard to defend our rights and freedoms.

March 2004