3.2% Social Security Hike Coming To Thousands Of Connecticut Residents

CONNECTICUT — Thousands of Social Security recipients in Connecticut will get a 3.2 percent cost-of-living adjustment next year, the Social Security Administration said Thursday.

About 71 million people nationwide — including retirees, disabled people and children — receive Social Security benefits. The average Social Security recipient will get a bump of about $50 a month, starting in January.

The raise has roots in Connecticut. U.S. House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Ranking Member John B. Larson (CT-01) released the following statement on the announcement that the Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment (or COLA) for 2024 will be 3.2 percent.

"Seniors know that Social Security's annual COLA is vital," Larson said. "Unfortunately, the current COLA formula does not fully reflect the true costs seniors and people with disabilities face, such as groceries, rent, and prescription drugs. In these difficult times, as the elderly and children struggle to make ends meet, Congress must reform Social Security and bring benefits into this century.

"After decades of inaction, the modest COLA announced by the Social Security Administration today is another reminder of why now is the time to act. Our plan, Social Security 2100, will enhance benefits for the first time in more than 50 years, and improve the COLA to ensure benefits keep pace with the costs seniors face each and every day."

arson said he introduced the Social Security 2100 bill in an effort "to make the first meaningful benefit increases in more than half a century, repeal the harmful WEP/GPO that penalizes public servants, cut taxes for 23 million middle-income beneficiaries, and lift 5 million Americans out of poverty."

Social Security 2100 is designed to improve the annual COLA by incorporating the consumer price index for the elderly (or CPI-E) into its annual calculation, ensuring beneficiaries receive the higher of the two annual adjustments calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The raise is far less than this year’s historic 9 percent boost to Social Security benefits to offset 40-year-high inflation. Social Security is financed by payroll taxes collected from workers and their employers.

Still, advocates for older Americans applauded the annual adjustment.

“Retirees can rest a little easier at night knowing they will soon receive an increase in their Social Security checks to help them keep up with rising prices,” AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins told The Associated Press. “We know older Americans are still feeling the sting when they buy groceries and gas, making every dollar important.”

Social Security is financed by payroll taxes collected from workers and their employers. The maximum amount of earnings subject to Social Security payroll taxes will be $168,600 for 2024, up from $160,200 for 2023.

The social insurance program faces a severe financial shortfall in coming years. The annual Social Security and Medicare trustees report released in March said the program’s trust fund will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2033. If that happens, the government will pay only 77 percent of scheduled benefits, the report said.

Congress has failed to advance legislative proposals to shore up Social Security from committees. Some would change the formula to calculate cost-of-living adjustments from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index, to a different index, the CPI-E, which measures price changes based on spending patterns of the elderly, for example for health care, food and medicine.

Any change to the calculation would require congressional approval. But with decades of inaction on Social Security and with the House at a standstill after the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, seniors and their advocates told the AP they don’t have confidence any sort of change will be approved soon.