# 119-hr-5841: Boosting Benefits and COLAs for Seniors Act

119-hr-5841, Boosting Benefits and COLAs for Seniors Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Budzinski, Nikki [D-IL-13] (D-IL); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-08-09).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5841
- As of: 2026-08-09
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-5841
- Congress: 119
- Title: Boosting Benefits and COLAs for Seniors Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-10-28
- Sponsor: Rep. Budzinski, Nikki [D-IL-13] (D-IL)
- Cosponsors: 3
- Policy area: Social Welfare
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-08-09

## Summary

**Tie annual Social Security and related benefit increases to whichever price index grows more: the standard CPI-W or a senior-focused CPI-E.** This bill would make cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) use the higher annual change between those two indexes and set rules for transition and publication of the senior index. - Seniors and beneficiaries under Title II, Title VIII, and Title XVI: Could receive larger annual COLAs when the senior price index (CPI-E) rises faster than the standard index. This changes how benefit increases are calculated. - People receiving Supplemental Security Income and other payments tied to COLAs: Those annual adjustments would follow the same higher-index rule so linked benefits move with the new COLA measure. - Recipients with pre-1979 benefit rules: The bill updates legacy computations, including a requirement that the higher index exceed the other by at least 3 percentage points for certain legacy checks and adjusts a 2.5 percent threshold to reference CPI-W or CPI-E. - Bureau of Labor Statistics and transition: The bill requires monthly publication of CPI-E and says references to CPI-E use an interim RCPI-E series until BLS issues CPI-E.

## Cosponsors (3)

- Rep. Frankel, Lois [D-FL-22] (D-FL), 2025-10-28T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Magaziner, Seth [D-RI-2] (D-RI), 2025-10-28T00:00:00.000Z
- Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large] (D-DC), 2025-11-25T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Social Security COLAs tied to senior prices: benefit, medium. If enacted, yearly cost-of-living raises for Social Security and SSI would use the higher of two inflation measures: CPI-W or CPI-E. The 3% and 2.5% trigger tests would still apply, but they would use whichever index is higher. BLS would publish a new monthly CPI-E; until then, the research R-CPI-E…
- Other benefits would not use higher COLA: mixed, medium. If enacted, other federal laws that tie increases to the Social Security COLA would not use the bill’s higher COLA. They would act as if the old COLA formula still applied. This would start for COLAs tied to computation quarters ending on or after September 30, 2026.

## Related bills

- 119-hr-9877: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026
- 119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act
- 119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025
- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-10421: Transforming Education for the Future Act
- 119-hr-7481: Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026

## Sources
- [119-hr-5841 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5841)

## Related
- [119-hr-9877: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9877)
- [119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7977)
- [119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4669)
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-10421: Transforming Education for the Future Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-10421)
- [119-hr-7481: Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7481)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5841 (as of 2026-08-09).