Warner, Kaine Urge Social Security Administration To Implement Supreme Court Marriage Equality Decisions
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) joined 119 of their congressional colleagues in a letter to Acting Commissioner of Social Security Carolyn W. Colvin and Attorney General Loretta Lynch to make sure that the Supreme Court’s landmark marriage equality decisions are implemented and that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is treating all marriages equally. The letter urges SSA not to penalize married same-sex couples who received Supplemental Security Income (SSI) overpayments due to SSA’s delayed implementation of the law following the Supreme Court’s 2013 Windsor decision.
“We are concerned to hear that, for some time after the Supreme Court’s Windsor decision, SSA continued to issue benefits to Supplemental Security Income recipients in same-sex marriages as though these individuals were single, and that for some SSI recipients, SSA is still doing so,” the members of Congress wrote. “SSA should not penalize people who are poor, elderly or disabled because SSA continued issuing benefits to these married individuals as though they were single. According to SSA’s statute and regulations, SSA shall avoid penalizing an individual for overpayment if the individual is without fault and if recovery of the overpayment would be against equity and good conscience.”
Close to 3600 same-sex marriages were performed in Virginia between October 2014 and August of this year. In today’s letter, the Senators ask SSA for assurances that those marriages will be treated equally to other married couples.
“[W]e urge SSA to issue a blanket waiver for recovery of overpayment for all of these individuals automatically – especially since SSA’s inability to update its systems resulted in SSA’s continuing to apply Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act long after the Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional,” the letter states.
In the letter, the members ask SSA to respond with information about how the agency is identifying affected SSI recipients and its efforts to update its systems so that Social Security benefits are administered fairly to all individuals.
In addition to Senators Warner and Kaine, the letter was signed by 36 U.S. Senators, including Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
The letter also was signed by 82 U.S. Representatives, including Pete Aguilar (CA-31), Karen Bass (CA-37), Ami Bera (CA-07), Earl Blumenauer (OR-03), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Julia Brownley (CA-26), Lois Capps (CA-24), Tony Cardenas (CA-29), John Carney (DE-At Large), Matt Cartwright (PA-17), Judy Chu (CA-27), David Cicilline (RI-01), Katherine Clark (MA-05), Steve Cohen (TN-09), John Conyers Jr. (MI-13), Joe Crowley (NY-14), Susan Davis (CA-53), Peter DeFazio (OR-04), Suzane DelBene (WA-01), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11), Ted Deutch (FL-21), Keith Ellison (MN-05), Eliot Engel (NY-16), Lois Frankel (FL-22), Ruben Gallego (AZ-07), John Garamendi (CA-03), Alan Grayson (FL-09), Al Green (TX-09), Raul Grijalva (AZ-03), Luis Gutierrez (IL-04), Brian Higgins (NY-26), Michael M. Honda (CA-17), Steve Israel (NY-03), William Keating (MA-09), Joe Kennedy (MA-04), Dan Kildee (MI-05), Ron Kind (WI-03), James Langevin (RI-02), Barbara Lee (CA-13), Sander M. Levin (MI-09), Ted Lieu (CA-33), Alan Lowenthal (CA-47), Carolyn Maloney (NY-12), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18), Doris Matsui (CA-06), Betty McCollum (MN-04), Jim McDermott (WA-07), James McGovern (MA-02), Grace Meng (NY-06), Patrick Murphy (FL-18), Jerrold Nadler (NY-10), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Frank Pallone Jr. (NJ-06), Ed Perlmutter (CO-07), Scott Peters (CA-52), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Jared Polis (CO-02), Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), Raul Ruiz (CA-36), Linda T. Sanchez (CA-38), Loretta Sanchez (CA-46), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Adam Schiff (CA-28), Jose E. Serrano (NY-15), Brad Sherman (CA-30), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09), Louise Slaughter (NY-25), Jackie Speier (CA-14), Eric Swalwell (CA-15), Mark Takano (CA-41), Mike Thompson (CA-05), Dina Titus (NV-01), Paul Tonko (NY-20), Niki Tsongas (MA-03), Chris Van Hollen (MD-08), Juan Vargas (CA-51), Marc Veasey (TX-33), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Frederica Wilson (FL-24), Grace Napolitano (CA-32), Peter Welch (VT-At Large).
A PDF of the letter is available here.
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