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Cutting Social Security Disability Insurance Won’t Help Anyone Go Back to Work
Policymakers and elected officials on both sides of the aisle have long shared the goal of helping people with disabilities work. However, recent proposals to cut Social Security Disability Insurance for beneficiaries who attempt to return to work represent a step in the wrong direction that would undermine this bipartisan objective. The House’s fiscal year 2016 budget, which passed on a party-line vote last month, would eliminate concurrent receipt of Social Security Disability Insurance and unemployment insurance. A similar proposal was offered as an amendment to the Senate FY 2016 budget but did not come up for a vote. Other similar proposals failed last year, both as an amendment to a bill that would have extended emergency jobless benefits and during consideration of legislation to shore up the Highway Trust Fund. Multiple standalone bills along these lines have been introduced as well, such as legislation championed by Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) in the House and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) in the Senate. Read more…