ECONOMIC SECURITY
NSCLC seeks to preserve, strengthen, expand and improve access to programs such as Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) that provide income security to millions of older adults and people with disabilities.
We achieve our objectives through litigation, policy advocacy, and technical assistance to advocates including case consultations, training and written materials.
2012 Priorities
We seek to:
- Protect Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits and ensure that settled or decided cases that restored benefits to many elderly poor are not overturned.
- Strengthen Social Security and update SSI programs and play a lead role in enhancing the programs’ language access policies.
- Gain recognition, acceptance and usage for the Elder Economic Security Index (CPI-E) and end discrimination of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender couples in Social Security benefits.
- Improve the Social Security Administration’s non-disability appeals process, seek workable policies that ensure proper accommodations for people with disabilities.
- Extend the time limit for refugees, asylees and other humanitarian immigrants.
2011 Accomplishments
Last year, NSCLC:
- Released a widely discussed policy issue brief on the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) that showed how the proposed chained CPI would adversely affect those with low incomes and proposed its replacement with the Experimental Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E).
- Ensured that a larger nationwide class was certified in Social Security case affecting 100,000 people who lost Social Security or SSI benefits because of an outstanding warrant for an alleged violation of probation or parole.
- Published and widely disseminated a series of policy issue briefs and reports on how the SSI program needs drastic modernization in order to serve the growing ranks of elderly poor.
- Played a key role in the fight to keep SSI benefits for elderly asylees, refugees and humanitarian immigrant who lost their benefits in because of Congressional indifference, helping to ensure Senate passage of a bill to restore them.
