Chuck Hagel: “currently there are service members in our Armed Forces with disabled dependents who have lost or are in danger of…”

“currently there are service members in our Armed Forces with disabled dependents who have lost or are in danger of losing Supplemental Security Income, SSI, eligibility or benefits. This issue not only affects our regular active duty service members, but our mobilized National Guard and Reserve service members as well. Supplemental Security Income is a Federal income supplement program, funded by tax revenues, designed to provide cash to meet basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter for aged, blind, and disabled people. Under current law, section 1612(a) of the Social Security Act, only military basic pay is counted as earned income for the purposes of determining SSI eligibility and benefit amount. Special pay and allowances are counted as unearned income. As a result, a disabled child or spouse of a service member can lose SSI eligibility or have a benefit reduction due to the way military compensation is presently counted. Because a significant portion of a service member's compensation includes special pay and allowances, military compensation generally results in more countable income for SSI purposes than comparable wages earned by a civilian. Accordingly, a child or spouse of a service member could be ineligible for SSI while the child or spouse of a civilian worker could be eligible for SSI based on comparable gross wages.…”