A ProPublica investigation revealed a new change proposed by the Trump administration that would cut Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for up to 400,000 Americans with disabilities. The SSI system provides a very modest basic income to adults who are unable to work due to severe disabilities such as Down syndrome, autism, or blindness. The maximum monthly benefit in 2026 is $994 per person, far below the federal poverty line. Because current SSI benefits are not enough to live independently, many SSI recipients live with their families into adulthood, in order to avoid the alternatives of institutional living or homelessness.
People with disabilities benefit from the social, cultural, and structural support of living in a multi-generational home. Family caregivers develop routines that integrate their loved ones, providing individualized support that is hard to replicate in an institutional setting. Families often invest substantially in building accommodations into the home such as ramps and widened doorways.
In an act of remarkable cruelty, the Trump administration is proposing to penalize SSI recipients who live with their families by subtracting the value of their bedroom from their monthly benefit amount. Middle-class households are already charged with this reduction in benefits, but the new rule would extend this reduction to families that are poor enough to receive SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps. The proposed change would cut benefits to the lowest-income recipients by up to a third, and for some would eliminate SSI benefits entirely.
To people with any sense of humanity, it would be inconceivable to identify the household budgets of some of our most vulnerable society members – food stamp recipients who take care of their families – as a potential source of government revenue. But humanity notwithstanding, this proposed change could end up costing taxpayers even more money, if families are no longer able to afford taking care of their relatives at home. Institutional care in a nursing home or group home would be billed to Medicaid at a substantially higher rate than the meager sum allotted to families through SSI.
However, should this rule change somehow work out as the Trump administration intends, and they are able to scrape a pittance of cost savings from these families, what other government program could possibly be more deserving of taxpayer funds? Unfortunately, we already know where this money will be used: a $400 million ballroom/bunker, with up to $1 billion in security upgrades; a $25+ billion war with Iran; and a $70 billion budget for Trump’s immigration crackdown.
It’s not hard to imagine how different our society could look if our resources were used to support each other, instead of being drained away for wasteful, destructive, and unpopular initiatives that only benefit the billionaire class. Working people have every right to be disgusted as the value that we produce is stripped from our communities and literally blown up on the other side of the world, one $3 million missile at a time. The solution does not lie within this exploitative, morally bankrupt system, or with hoping that the next politician will have our interests at heart. We, as workers, have the solutions ourselves, and we know how to take care of each other. We have the power to build a system that respects all of us and the value we create, and that supports the well-being of everyone in our communities.
