Poverty and Income Security
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Testimony on Using the Chained CPI to Index Social Security, Other Federal Programs, and the Tax Code for Inflation
How does the chained consumer price index (CPI) differ from the traditional CPI and what would be the budgetary effects of using the chained CPI to make automatic adjustments in Social Security, other federal programs, and the tax code?
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Supplemental Security Income: An Overview
The report discusses how the SSI program works, who receives payments, the program’s spending and interaction with other government programs, the extent to which SSI affects people’s work and saving, and approaches to changing the program.
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Unemployment Insurance in the Wake of the Recent Recession
Between 2007 and 2010, unemployment benefits expanded nearly five-fold owing to high unemployment due to the weak economy, and decisions by policymakers to increase the number of weeks for which unemployed workers could receive benefits.
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Policy Options for the Social Security Disability Insurance Program
The Disability Insurance program provided benefits to 8.3 million disabled workers in 2011. By 2022, CBO projects, the program will provide benefits to over 10 million disabled workers and spending on benefits will exceed $190 billion.
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The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
One in seven U.S. residents received benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in 2011, at a total cost of $78 billion. Spending on SNAP benefits more than doubled between 2007 and 2011.
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Understanding and Responding to Persistently High Unemployment
The rate of unemployment in the United States has exceeded 8 percent since February 2009, and CBO projects that it will remain above 8 percent until 2014.
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Raising the Ages of Eligibility for Medicare and Social Security
Raising the ages at which people can collect Medicare and Social Security would reduce federal spending and increase federal revenues by inducing some people to work longer.
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Social Security Policy Options
CBO anticipates that starting in 2016, if current laws remain in place, the program's annual spending will regularly exceed its tax revenues.
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Costs and Policy Options for Federal Student Loan Programs
This CBO study compares the budgetary and fair-value costs of the federal student loan programs. It also looks at several options for modifying those programs.