Senators Warren and Markey Sends Letter Urging Social Security Administration Not To Penalize Same-Sex Couples

WASHINGTON, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, both of of Massachusetts, and 119 of their congressional colleagues in the Senate and U.S. House of Representatives sent 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 decisions are implemented and that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is treating all marriages equally.

The letter urges the Administration not to penalize married same-sex couples who received Supplemental Security Income (SSI) overpayments due to Social Secutiry’s delayed implementation of the law following the Supreme Court’s 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.”

“(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.

Click here to read the full text of 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 benefits are administered fairly to all individuals.

In addition to Senator Warren and Congressman Takano, the letter was signed by 37 U.S. Senators, including Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts.

The letter also was signed by 82 U.S. Representatives, including Katherine Clark, who represents Framingham in Congress.