SSI, or the Supplemental Security Income, is a type of benefit that is paid out by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to eligible adults and children who have little or no income, little or no resources, and a disability, blindness, or are age 65 or older. According to the SSA, the maximum monthly SSI payment for 2025 is $967 for an individual and $1,450 for a couple. Factors such as employment, living situation, or a “state supplement” are all taken into consideration when the agency calculates your SSI benefit.
There are currently close to 7.4 million beneficiaries of the SSI benefit according to the July monthly statistical snapshot from SSA. A new proposal from the Trump Administration, however, could very well cause some 400,000 SSI recipients to lose their benefits, bring this figure down to around 7 million. Here is what you need to know.
New proposal could strip SSI benefits from 400,000 individuals
As things currently stand, SSI beneficiaries could have their benefits reduced in the following way as per the SSA:
For every $2 you earn from work, we reduce your SSI payment by about $1. Work includes:
- A job
- Self-employment
- Any activity that earns money
For every $1 you get from non-work sources, we reduce your SSI payment by about $1. Non-work sources includes:
- Disability benefits
- Unemployment payments
- Pensions
Furthermore, if you are living in another person’s home but you do not contribute towards any food or shelter costs, your SSI could face a reduction of up to $342.33. Additionally, if you are married and living with your spouse, their income could also impact your benefit, and the same applies to a child on SSI who lives with their parent.
Under the current policy if the SSI beneficiary is living in a “public assistance household”, the aforementioned decreases will not apply, and this applies to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) qualifying households as well. If the Trump Administration’s new proposal is passed, however, SNAP beneficiaries will no longer be considered when determining “public assistance household” status.
What does this mean for SSI beneficiaries?
Estimates from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) have revealed that “nearly 400,000 SSI beneficiaries living with family or friends experiencing their own financial struggles likely would have their benefits cut—typically by hundreds of dollars per month—or lose eligibility altogether.”
A report published recently by the CBPP also noted that, “while more details will become available when the details of the proposed rule are made public, removing SNAP as a qualifying form of public assistance would likely result in benefit cuts for over 275,000 people and loss of eligibility for over 100,000 more, based on a 2024 SSA analysis.”
The SSA is currently amidst a staffing cut crisis, and if this proposal is passed, the administrative burden of this could worsen the state of service delivery at the agency. The CBPP also warned that this change could cause families to hold off on providing support since it could worsen the situation of the beneficiary if their benefits get reduced.
“The average annual savings from these benefit cuts would barely pay for a single day of the massive tax cuts for the wealthy that are part of the Republican megabill enacted in July,” the CBPP wrote.
“It means that SSI recipients living in SNAP-recipient households could see their benefits reduced by up to a third or lose them entirely. The government would treat help from family, such as food or housing as ‘in-kind support’ and count it against the recipient. This would hit low-income, multigenerational households the hardest,” Colin Ruggiero, a co-founder of DisabilityGuidance.org — an organization that provides support to individuals applying for Social Security disability benefits — explained to Newsweek. “It penalizes families by reducing SSI payments when they provide shelter or basic support to loved ones. Instead of recognizing this care as essential, the rule treats it as financial assistance that lowers eligibility.”