Lawmakers Push for 3.9 Percent ‘Emergency’ COLA in 2016

Retired federal employees should receive at least as much of a raise next year as private sector CEOs, according a bicameral group of Democratic lawmakers, which has proposed providing an “emergency payment” to make up for the lack of a cost-of-living adjustment in 2016.

Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., introduced on Tuesday the Seniors and Veterans Emergency (SAVE) Benefits Act, joining a group of more than 20 senators who have signed on to matching legislation in the upper chamber that would give federal retirees a lump sum payment of 3.9 percent of their annuities. The rate would equal the average raise CEOs at the top 350 American companies received last year, lawmakers said. The typical retiree would receive about $580.

The bill would apply to 70 million Americans who receive benefits from Social Security, veterans payments and other programs. The lawmakers proposed the measure after data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics confirmed no COLA would be applied in 2016, as the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) did not tick up in 2015.

The SAVE Benefits Act would offset the one-time payment to retirees by prohibiting corporations from writing off executive bonuses as business expenses for tax purposes.

“If we do nothing, on Jan. 1, more than 70 million seniors, veterans, and other Americans won't get an extra dime in much-needed Social Security and other benefits,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who introduced the bill in the Senate. “And while Congress sits on its hands and pretends that there's nothing we can do, taxpayers will keep right on subsidizing billions of dollars' worth of bonuses for highly paid CEOs.”

Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., a longtime federal employee advocate who will herself retire when her term expires in 2016, said the bill would enable retirees to pay for basic necessities like food and housing.

“This legislation will help 1.1 million seniors, veterans of Social Security age and federal employee retirees in Maryland so they aren’t left out in the cold when it comes to the Social Security benefits they’ve earned and deserve,” Mikulski said. “I will continue to fight so that seniors, veterans and federal employees have a government on their side.”

Among the senators on board are presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Other federal employee and retiree advocates have denounced the lack of annuity adjustment, saying it would lead to a decline in living standards for former feds.  A 3.9 percent increase would far outpace recent COLAs. The 2015 adjustment was 1.7 percent, and the 2014 increase was 1.5 percent. Retirees did receive a 3.6 percent boost in 2012.

Richard Thissen, president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employee Association, said the formula determining COLAs requires fundamental reform, but still supported the bill. 

"Absent a permanent fix in the methodology," Thissen said, "Sen. Warren’s bill is a good step forward in providing our nation’s seniors and veterans some much-needed relief in offsetting their rising health care costs.”

The Warren-Duckworth bill goes farther than one proposed by Rep. Alan Grayson, R-Fla., which would grant retirees a 2.9 percent COLA next year. Both Grayson, who has since backed a companion the SAVE Benefits Act of his own, and Duckworth are running for the Senate in 2016.

(Image via Ivica Drusany / Shutterstock.com)