50 signatures reached
To: Rep. Christopher Smith, Senator Bob Menendez, Senator Cory Booker
Change the Social Security Consumer Price Index for Seniors
As constituents who are falling further and further behind every year in our quality of life, we are strongly requesting legislation be introduced to change the Consumer Price Index being used to calculate the annual Cost of Living raise for Social Security recipients. The index being used at this time (CPI-W) tracks the expenditures of urban clerical workers, and is not relevant to or representative of Social Security recipients. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics already calculates an index that specifically tracks older citizens (CPI-E), and it is well-known through their data that spending needs change over the years. There needs to be a switch to this CPI-E tracking to figure the annual raise to Social Security recipients, so that the index more directly represents those who are affected by it. In the richest country in the world, seniors should not have to decide between eating and purchasing life-saving medication, or paying for a roof over their heads. Our Congresspeople can and should do better.
Why is this important?
Retired seniors typically have labored in the workforce for fifty years, with the promise of "golden years," to be lived in dignity at the end of their careers. Yet almost 40% of retirees are forced to go back to work to make ends meet. The annual Cost of Living raise was intended to keep up with rising costs and it is not reaching that goal. Legislators have the means to see that the additional dollars in our Social Security checks each year are more reflective of the reality elders experience, by switching the index used annually to the CPI-E and putting the CPI-W to work for only urban clerical workers.