WASHINGTON (AP) — The ongoing government shutdown is delaying the announcement of the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for tens of millions of beneficiaries until Friday.
It was originally scheduled for Oct. 15. Now it’s timed to the September Consumer Price Index, which also has not been released.
The Social Security Administration adjusts its benefits every year based on inflation. The government shutdown is entering its fourth week and with little progress made toward a resolution.
Projections by the Senior Citizens League and the AARP anticipate a COLA increase of approximately 2.7 percent.
About 70 million people, including retirees, disabled people and children, receive Social Security benefits.
Social Security Administration beneficiaries have voiced concerns that next year’s increase will not be enough to counter rising costs.
Sue Conard, a 75-year-old retired nurse from La Crosse, Wis., and SSA recipient, recently traveled to the nation’s Capitol with other retiree members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union to lobby for progress toward gaining health-care protections to end the shutdown, as well as changes to Social Security benefits.
She said she wants lawmakers to change the calculation on how the COLA is determined since the standard CPI gauge, which includes a market basket of consumer goods and services, doesn’t take into account many costs typical for older Americans.
“The issue of how the COLA is determined is flat-out wrong because health care is not factored into the CPI,” said Conard, speaking on the front steps of the Longworth House Office Building.
Some lawmakers have proposed legislation that would make SSA use a different index, called the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly, or CPI-E, to calculate the cost-of-living increase that measures price changes based on the spending patterns of older people on things such as health care, food and medicine.
Some Democratic lawmakers have proposed legislation to change the CPI calculation for COLA benefits to the CPI-E. Last session, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., proposed a law that would change the COLA calculation, but that never got a hearing in the Senate finance committee.
AARP CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan said the COLA “isn’t just a source of income — it’s a lifeline of independence and dignity, for tens of millions of older Americans.” Even with an adjusted COLA, a many Americans still face challenges covering basic expenses, she said.
Vanessa Fields, a 70-year-old former social worker and AFSCME member from Philadelphia, said she pays roughly $1,000 per month for groceries, more than in previous years.
The COLA doesn’t keep up with rising costs, she said, “and we’re going to be in bad shape if lawmakers don’t act.”
The agency is expected to begin notifying recipients about their new benefit amount starting in early December.
A spokesperson for Social Security said retirement and Supplemental Security Income benefits would be adjusted beginning Jan. 1, 2026, without any delay despite the current government lapse in appropriations.
