October 17, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC –New Jersey congressmen Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew today introduced legislation to significantly increase the annual cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) for Social Security recipients after it was announced earlier this week by the Social Security Administration that the COLA effective December 2020 is going to be 1.3 percent.
The Smith-Van Drew proposal would increase the 2020 COLA to 3 percent in 2020, and no less than 3 percent more in 2021.
With the average Social Security payment to individuals being $1,514 a month, or $18,168 annually, the announced SSA increase would only provide a $236 COLA for 2021. The Smith-Van Drew bill would increase the average COLA to $545 for both 2020 (retroactively) & 2021, or an estimated $1,090, over two years.