The ongoing government shutdown is delaying the announcement of the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for tens of millions of beneficiaries. Originally scheduled for Wednesday, the 2024 Social Security COLA announcement will now be Oct. 24. It is timed to the September Consumer Price Index, which also has not yet been released. The agency adjusts its benefits every year based on inflation. The AP sees the postponement of the announcement as the most recent example of how the government shutdown, entering its third week with little progress made toward a resolution, has made it more difficult for people to plan out their finances.
Projections by Senior Citizens League and the AARP anticipate a COLA increase of roughly 2.7%. About 70.6 million people—including retirees, disabled people, and children—get Social Security benefits. The agency is expected to begin notifying recipients about their new benefit amount starting in early December. A spokesperson for Social Security who spoke on the condition of anonymity said retirement and Supplemental Security Income benefits would be adjusted beginning Jan. 1, 2026, without any delay despite the current government lapse in appropriations.
Social Security Administration beneficiaries have voiced concerns that next year's increase will not be enough to counter rising costs. Some are pushing lawmakers to change the calculation on how the COLA is determined since the standard CPI gauge, which includes a market basket of consumer goods and services, doesn't take into account many costs typical for older Americans, among them, health care. Some lawmakers have proposed legislation that would make SSA use a different index, called the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly. Last session, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., proposed a law that would change the COLA calculation, but that never got a hearing in the Senate Finance committee.
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