Sponsors (22)
Official title: Amend title XVI of the Social Security Act to update eligibility for the supplemental security income program, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 5, 2026 by Elizabeth Warren · Last progress March 5, 2026
The bill expands and modernizes SSI eligibility and benefit rules—boosting payments and access for many seniors, people with disabilities, tribal members, and territory residents—while increasing federal costs and creating winners and losers (and administrative and privacy challenges) during implementation.
Seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income individuals will become eligible for more SSI benefits and see higher monthly payments (through higher resource/eligibility thresholds, HHS-poverty-guideline linkage, CPI–E indexing, and exclusions of certain accounts/payments), preserving purchasing power and reducing denials.
Residents of U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa) and U.S. nationals in those territories will gain SSI eligibility and more predictable federal benefits, with the Commissioner able to tailor rules to local conditions.
SSI applicants and recipients (including tribal members) will get clearer statutory treatment for specific payments—Indian general welfare benefits, certain state child tax credit refunds, and other specified assistance—so those amounts are excluded from countable income or resources, helping preserve eligibility.
Taxpayers and the federal budget will face increased costs because expanded eligibility, higher thresholds, account exclusions, and benefit increases raise SSI outlays.
Some recipients—notably certain immigrants (due to longer sponsor-lookback and deeming changes), individuals whose marital status is newly treated as married, or those losing legacy dedicated-account protections—could lose benefits or see reduced SSI due to redefinitions of countable income/resources.
The Social Security Administration, state agencies, and beneficiaries may face substantial administrative and transitional burdens (system changes, guidance updates, verification/enrollment processes) that could cause confusion, delays, or processing errors during implementation.
Based on analysis of 26 sections of legislative text.
Revises SSI rules: raises exclusions and resource limits, indexes benefits after 2026, extends SSI to four U.S. territories, updates marital and counting rules, and adds specific exclusions.
Makes wide-ranging changes to the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program: increases income and resource limits, indexes benefit amounts to inflation and poverty guidelines after 2026, updates how marital status and spouse language are treated, extends SSI coverage to Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa, and adds or clarifies multiple income/resource exclusions (including Indian general welfare and retirement accounts). It also changes rules on how in‑kind support and sponsor‑attributed income are treated, requires SSA to notify applicants about Medicaid transfer penalties and to share relevant information with State Medicaid agencies, and sets the Act’s effective date to the calendar month beginning after one year from enactment.