3.3 million people could be lifted out of poverty with a proposal in Democrats' $3.5 trillion bill
There are close to 40 million people in poverty in the US. The Democrats' $3.5 trillion social welfare bill aims to change that, with one proposal aiming to take on the impoverished elderly and disabled communities in the country.
The Urban Institute, a left-leaning nonprofit, released a report on Monday that found Democrats' proposal to boost the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program would lift 3.3 million people out of poverty and cut the poverty rate of SSI recipients by more than half.
To put that spending in perspective, US GDP in 2020 was $20.9 trillion, while the Treasury Department estimated the tax gap - the difference between what's owed to the Internal Revenue Service and what's collected - was $600 billion in 2019. If left unaddressed, Treasury says that gap could rise to $7 trillion over the next decade. There's money to pay for lifting people out of poverty, in other words, and the question is whether a fraction of $3.5 trillion is worth it.
The SSI program provides monthly checks to those who have a disability or are over the age of 65 and are low-income, but according to the report, the maximum federal SSI benefit is $794 per month - $279 below the federal poverty level. In June, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown reintroduced the Supplemental Security Income Restoration Act to assist the nearly 8 million Americans relying on those monthly checks, who fell victim to "decades of shameful federal neglect," Brown said in a statement.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/33-million-people-could-be-lifted-out-of-poverty-with-a-proposal-in-democrats-dollar35-trillion-social-spending-bill/ar-AAOcemm
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