For more than 1.2 million Alabamians, the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is more than a number. It’s help at the grocery store. It’s help keeping the lights on. It’s help with the costs for everyday essentials that can stretch household budgets to a breaking point.
The 3.6% adjustment announced this week is vitally important and will go toward helping older Americans make ends meet. AARP fought for the creation of the automatic COLA in 1972 because older Americans needed protection from rising prices. Before then, changes to Social Security payments depended on an act of Congress, which left too many people vulnerable to inflation.
Let’s be clear: the Social Security COLA helps, but it never seems enough to keep up with ever-rising costs.
Across Alabama, our neighbors are telling us what they see every day. Prices remain too high. A trip to the grocery store costs more than it used to. Utility bills take a bigger share of the monthly budget. And health care and prescription drug costs continue to strain families’ budgets. For people living on a fixed income, even a modest increase in costs can force difficult choices.
Social Security is central to the retirement security of older Americans, including more than 844,000 people here in Alabama. They paid into it with every paycheck. They earned it through decades of hard work. This money belongs to them and they depend on it.
A recent AARP survey makes clear how much is at stake. Half of Social Security recipients say it is their main source of income, and most Americans 50-plus say a 3.5% COLA in 2027 would not keep up with rising prices. That means even with an adjustment, too many older Americans still feel like they are falling behind.
Yet special interests in Washington, DC continue to push ideas that would reduce or cut the COLA. These proposals are out of touch with the reality facing older Americans in communities across our state.
This year’s COLA matters. Every additional dollar counts when families are paying more for groceries, health care, and other necessities. Protecting Americans from rising prices also means protecting the Social Security payments they have earned. That is why AARP will never stop fighting to protect and strengthen Social Security, including protecting the COLA. Congress must act to ensure Social Security is there for today’s retirees and for the generations still paying into it with every paycheck, without cutting the money they have earned.
The message from Alabamians should be clear: Keep the promise. Protect and strengthen Social Security for the Americans who earned it.
Candi Williams serves as the State Director of AARP Alabama.
