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KITCHEN URGES RESTORATION OF SSI SUPPLEMENTS
IN NEXT STATE BUDGET
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Kitchen |
PHILADELPHIA,
February 2
—
State Sen. Shirley Kitchen is calling for
the restoration of funding for State
Supplemental Payments that the Department of
Public Welfare pays to federal Supplemental
Security Income (SSI) recipients.
Starting Feb. 1, hundreds of thousands of
very low income, elderly and severely
disabled Pennsylvanians saw up to a 24
percent cut in their SSI checks. More than
100,000 Philadelphians — many of them
seniors and children — will feel the pain
from these cuts.
“This is a disgrace. At a time when we
should be caring more for our most
vulnerable citizens, Pennsylvania is
essentially turning its back on our neediest
citizens who depend on every last cent of
these funds,” Kitchen said. “We had to make
painful cuts in last year’s budget, but this
simply should not have happened.”
The Department of Public Welfare will be
reducing the payments for an individual by
$5.30 a month and $10.40 a month for a
couple. Total SSI grants pay 77.7 percent of
the federal poverty line. The maximum SSI
grant for an individual is $674 a month. For
a couple, it is $1,101 month.
“These are people who physically cannot work
and depend on these payments to live and
survive,” Kitchen said. “We’re taking money
away from them for necessities like
groceries, medication and doctor visits or
co-pays for transportation on SEPTA
Paratransit busses. Seniors shouldn’t have
to go without their medication. Parents
shouldn’t have to choose between groceries
or the electric bill. The severely disabled
should not have to ration out their
Paratransit trips to the doctor’s office.”
With the governor’s 2010-11 budget
announcement less than a week away, the
senator called on Gov. Ed Rendell and the
General Assembly to restore these cuts.
“Surely, we can find a way to fill this hole
in funding,” said Kitchen. “These
Pennsylvanians don’t deserve to worry about
how they’re going to pay for their
necessities.”
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