Sponsors (50)
Introduced February 10, 2025 by Pete Sessions · Last progress February 10, 2025
The bill encourages work by letting blind SSDI beneficiaries earn while keeping entitlement and receiving gradual benefit reductions, but it also risks lower monthly benefits for some, reduced safeguards from waivers, and added administrative complexity, shifting some income risk onto beneficiaries.
People who are blind on SSDI can keep their SSDI entitlement while earning income because participation in the demonstration prevents earnings from terminating eligibility.
Participants who earn more can retain part of their SSDI benefits as earnings rise because benefits are reduced incrementally under the demonstration instead of ending abruptly.
Participants can deduct work-related expenses from countable earnings, effectively raising the amount they can earn before benefits are reduced and making work more financially viable.
Some participants who earn above the exempt amount may receive lower monthly SSDI checks because benefits are reduced by the demonstration's offset formula.
If the offset approach is adopted more broadly later, it could reduce program costs but shift more income risk onto beneficiaries who rely on predictable SSDI payments.
Waivers of title II and section 1148 reduce existing rules and safeguards, risking inconsistent treatment or unintended eligibility outcomes for beneficiaries.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a 20-year SSA demonstration letting blind SSDI beneficiaries keep entitlement while benefits are reduced $1 per $2 of earnings above an exempt amount and SGA is ignored.
Creates a 20-year Social Security demonstration that tests a new work-and-benefits approach for people whose disability is blindness. The demonstration ignores substantial gainful activity (SGA) for disability determination, lets beneficiaries keep SSDI entitlement even while they earn, reduces monthly SSDI payments by $1 for every $2 of earnings above an exempt amount (after allowable work expenses) but not below $0, and removes the trial work period and termination-month rules; the demonstration must begin within 180 days and applies to people who become entitled during the first 120 months of the project, with an option to opt out after that 120-month window.