The Congressional Black Caucus can help end poverty in America

The legislative agenda of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) does not include improvements to the income assistance programs of the United States, but new data from the Census Bureau suggest such a legislative focus is necessary.

The recently released data from its flagship household survey, called the Survey of Income and Program Participation, highlight the importance of social safety net programs to Black Americans. In particular, the data illustrate the importance of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program to African Americans.

SSI, which is run by the Social Security Administration (SSA), pays benefits to children and adults with severe disabilities as well as to the elderly. The program provides benefits to low-income families with few resources and generally guarantees access to vital health benefits through Medicaid.

The new Census data indicate that 400,000 Black children with disabilities receive safety net benefits from SSI. About 1.6 million African American adults with disabilities are helped by the program, along with 500,000 elderly Black individuals.

Some striking statistics are revealed in the new Census data. Black children account for about 15 percent of the child population in America, but account for 39 percent of children on SSI. Among working-age adults and the elderly, Black Americans are about three times as likely as White Americans to receive SSI.

What explains the disproportionate receipt of SSI among Black Americans? Years of discrimination have led to wide disparities in income and health outcomes by race in the United States.

These two issues — income and health — are often discussed as separate topics, but poverty and severe health problems often occur together. As such, the SSI program, which pays benefits to low-income persons with severe health problems, is one of the most effective means by which the country can mitigate the hardship experienced by many African Americans due to a long history of discrimination.

Further, because of policies that had clear racial motivations, such as the dismantling of the AFDC program in the 1990s, SSI is one of the few government programs still around that is robust enough to provide meaningful income assistance to families in need.

The new Census data also reveal that SSI is especially important for some economically vulnerable subgroups of the population and race, again, is an important factor. Among African Americans in their 50s and early 60s who did not graduate from high school, about 30 percent receive safety net assistance from SSI. The corresponding figure for white Americans is 12 percent.

Looking at subgroups within the new Census data also yields some surprises. The SSI program for the elderly, in particular, serves one of the most diverse groups in America. Fifteen percent of these SSI recipients are Asian American, 29 percent are Hispanic, and 23 percent are African American. Much like the CBC, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus should have a strong policy interest in the SSI program.

There is an opportunity for the Congressional Black Caucus and others to strengthen SSI. The first, most basic, step is to increase the SSI benefit to the official poverty level. Currently, the maximum federal benefit rate for an individual on SSI is $914 per month, which is $300 lower than the amount needed to prevent poverty for an individual according to the official standard of the United States government.

Having an anti-poverty program with a maximum benefit below the poverty level is something close to a technical flaw in the program that needs to be addressed. But more than that, it highlights a principled policy argument for the CBC and others to make — namely, that no American who is too disabled or old to work should live in poverty.

The SSI program needs attention from lawmakers for other reasons. Congress has systematically starved SSA of administrative funding needed to run the program. As a result, hundreds of thousands of children, adults and seniors who are eligible for SSI do not receive the benefits they are due under current law. It would be helpful if Black lawmakers actively engaged the appropriators in Congress and directly expressed their concerns and expectations about fair treatment of vulnerable citizens.

In addition, lawmakers need to examine some of the antiquated features of SSI. Resource limits for program eligibility have not been increased in decades. Recent analysis finds that these limits do not save the government much money, but rather simply prevent SSI recipients from accumulating even modest savings.

There are good public policy reasons for the CBC to advocate for strengthening the SSI program. Further, without sustained interest and energy from Black lawmakers, improvements in SSI will simply not happen. President Biden proposed improvements to the program as part of his Build Back Better initiative, but his package of proposals did not receive serious consideration even in the Democratically controlled 117^th Congress.

The lack of progress on SSI improvements may stem from political fears among some Democrats. Many Democrats, no doubt, remember the political success congressional Republicans had in curtailing assistance to families with dependent children in the 1990s. But SSI is somewhat different in that only older Americans and those with severe disabilities qualify. Arguments that these individuals should seek employment as a means of escaping poverty will, definitionally, fall flat.

Perhaps of more importance, times have changed. The rise in political power of African Americans is unmistakable, both within the Democratic Party and more broadly.  A principled SSI policy, advocated over the long-term by Black lawmakers, could eventually do something historic: end poverty among disabled and elderly Americans.

David A. Weaver, Ph.D., is an economist and retired federal employee who has authored a number of studies on the Social Security program. His views do not reflect the views of any organization.