SSI removes marriage penalty for disabled adults, restoring right to wed
H.R. 1757 — EMPSA Act · Filed by David Valadao (R-CA) · 11 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 27, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program to stop reducing benefits for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities when they marry. Currently, SSI counts a spouse's income and resources when determining eligibility and benefit amounts, which creates a financial penalty for marriage. The bill carves out a new category of eligible individuals (adults 18+ with intellectual/developmental disabilities) whose benefits are calculated based only on their own income and resources, regardless of marital status.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative purpose is to remove a marriage-based penalty in the SSI program for a specific protected class (adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities), expanding their rights and economic security without creating new restrictions or carve-outs.
What the text implies
- Removes a long-standing implicit disincentive to marriage for disabled adults, potentially increasing family formation and household stability in this population.
- May increase SSI program costs if a significant number of currently married individuals with disabilities become newly eligible or receive higher benefits, though the fiscal impact depends on current enrollment and income distributions.
- Creates a carve-out from standard SSI deeming rules that applies only to this population, establishing a precedent for disability-specific exceptions to means-testing rules.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities gain a concrete right to marry without losing SSI benefits, removing a significant financial barrier to family formation and personal autonomy. The bill imposes no new costs on beneficiaries and expands eligibility/benefit protection for a vulnerable population.
Who stands to gain
- adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities (direct SSI benefit recipients)
Named in the bill
Social Security Administration, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, Section 1611 (SSI eligibility), Section 1612 (SSI income exclusions), Section 1613 (SSI resource limits), Section 1614 (SSI deeming rules)
Where it stands
11 cosponsors: 11 Democrats.
- Feb 27, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 27, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Mar 2026 to Mar 2026. Those filings disclosed $12,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 6 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
David Valadao, the sponsor, reported $2,011,902 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities — $12,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jun 3, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,745 characters) on Sep 23, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Mar 2026 to Mar 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jun 3, 2026 · page rendered 2026-09-23.
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