March 11, 2013

Cost-of-Living Adjustments and Federal Benefits: Understanding the Full Implications of Change

10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Capitol Visitor Center
Room SVC 203-02
Southeast Drive
Washington, D.C. 20004

Benefits from Social Security and other federal programs are regularly increased based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI).  Adopting either of two proposed new CPI measures would have large effects on benefit levels.  Use of the chained CPI would reduce annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs).  Use of the CPI-E, designed to reflect the purchases of older Americans, would increase COLAs. What do we know about the groups that will be affected by a change? How will use of the chained CPI or the CPI-E affect Social Security beneficiaries over time? How will a change affect veterans, Americans with disabilities, and people with very low incomes? AARP sponsored a discussion on how the federal government measures the cost of living and how changes being considered will impact a range of government programs that serve tens of millions of Americans. CEPR Co-Director Dean Baker took part in the briefing, along with Stephen Goss, chief actuary at the Social Security Administration; Sita Slavov, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute; and Rebecca Vallas, staff attorney at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia. You can watch the briefing on C-SPAN.

Presentation