Elizabeth Warren praises efforts to get SSI benefits for Same-Sex couples.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., praised the Social Security Administration this week for adopting a streamlined waiver process to address errors in the agency's treatment of Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries in same-sex marriages.
Warren lauded the new SSA waiver process, which identifies SSI beneficiaries in same-sex marriages who were affected and presumes both a waiver has been requested for each beneficiary and individuals are without fault.
"The SSA's action goes a long way to make sure SSA doesn't penalize low-income elderly and disabled people for SSA's own mistake - its failure to recognize same-sex marriages after the Supreme Court's landmark marriage decision in 2013," she said in a statement.
The senator's praise comes months after she and other congressional lawmakers penned a letter to the agency and Attorney General Loretta Lynch raising concerns that following the Supreme Court decision which held part of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, SSA continued issuing SSI benefits to those in same-sex marriages as though they were single - a practice which they contended resulted in overpayments.
The SSA's recent announcement, the Massachusetts Democrat said, means that these legally married couples will not have to "jump through additional hoops to secure the remedy they deserve."
Warren further called on the agency to take all necessary steps to ensure those who have already been denied waivers are treated fairly.
U.S. Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., who joined Warren in leading the letter, said "providing these couples a streamlined process for resolving this situation recognizes that they have been treated unfairly."
"I welcome the SSA's action and ask that they consider increasing their outreach to ensure everyone affected receives the support they need," he added in a statement.
Congressional lawmakers who signed on to the October letter, including several from the Massachusetts delegation, called on SSA to issue a blanket waiver for recovery of overpayment for all these individuals, particularly, they argued, since the agency's inability to update its systems resulted in it continuing to apply the DOMA section after the Supreme Court struck it down.
Lawmakers contended that "any effort on the part of the SSA to collect overpayments would exacerbate the unlawful discriminatory effect of the Defense of Marriage Act and would be against equity and good conscience."
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