Overview
- The Social Security Emergency Inflation Relief Act, introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren on October 30, would add $200 per month to Social Security and certain veterans' benefits for roughly six months.
- The bill has more than ten Democratic cosponsors, including Chuck Schumer, Ron Wyden, Mark Kelly, Angela Alsobrooks, Tammy Duckworth, Kirsten Gillibrand, Chris Van Hollen, Amy Klobuchar, Alex Padilla, Tina Smith and Peter Welch.
- A separate measure, the Boosting Benefits and COLAs for Seniors Act, would replace the CPI-W with the CPI-E to calculate annual cost-of-living adjustments to better reflect retiree spending.
- The Social Security Administration has already set a 2.8 percent COLA for 2026, which Newsweek reports will average about $56 more per month for recipients.
- Democratic sponsors link the push to higher consumer costs they attribute to President Trump’s tariffs, while the White House says the president will protect and strengthen Social Security.