WASHINGTON (AP) — The government says there will be no increase in Social Security benefits next year, the second year in a row without an increase for more than 58 million retirees and disabled Americans.
The Social Security Administration said Friday that inflation has been too low since the last increase in 2009 to warrant one for 2011. The announcement marks only the second year without an increase since automatic adjustments for inflation were adopted in 1975. The first year was this year.
The cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, are automatically set each year by an inflation measure that was adopted by Congress back in the 1970s. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the chamber will vote next month on legislation providing onetime $250 payments to Social Security recipients.
