Former President Biden, who signed off on the legislation, said at the time that more than 2 million Americans were slated to “receive a lump sum payment of thousands of dollars to make up for the shortfall in the benefits they should have gotten in 2024.”
“They’re going to begin receiving these payments this year,” Biden also said.
But the Social Security Administration (SSA) has since sought to temper expectations on the timing of potential payouts in a recent update.
In the message, the agency notified customers that the recent law “did not provide money” for implementation and added the measure requires the agency “to adjust benefits for over 3 million people.”
“Since the law’s effective date is retroactive, SSA must adjust people’s past benefits as well as future benefits,” the agency said in the update. “Though SSA is helping some affected beneficiaries now, under SSA’s current budget, SSA expects that it could take more than one year to adjust benefits and pay all retroactive benefits.”
The office also noted its national phone number plays a message regarding the act that has “helped tens of thousands of people avoid holding for a representative,” but it added that upwards of 7,000 people “each day still choose to wait to speak to a representative about the act.”
The Hill’s Aris Folley has more here.
