
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 14, 1995                   TAG: 9510170009
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

SOCIAL SECURITY CHECKS TO INCREASE 2.6% IN '96

The nation's 43 million Social Security recipients will get a 2.6 percent boost in benefit checks starting in January, the second-smallest increase in the 21 years of annual cost-of-living raises.

But next year's typical increase of $18, triggered by national inflation figures released Friday, would be $7 smaller under one budget-cutting proposal that has seniors groups upset.

Opponents of the proposal contended that Democrats and Republicans scrambling to balance the budget were trying to sneak through changes in the cost-of-living adjustments under the smoke screen that the calculation overstates inflation.

``If the Congress wants to cut the cost-of-living adjustment, let them say so up front. I don't think the American people want to see Social Security COLAs cut for the sake of reducing the deficit,'' said Evelyn Morton, congressional lobbyist for the American Association of Retired Persons.

The planned 2.6 percent increase for 1996 will mean that the average monthly Social Security benefit of $702 will increase to $720, starting with the Jan. 3 checks. The increase is based on the change in the Labor Department's Consumer Price Index for the 12-month period ending Sept. 30.

Reducing the adjustment has been suggested by House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.

Moynihan proposes to limit cost-of-living adjustments to 1 percentage point below the CPI increase, citing comments by economists including Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that the current CPI overstates inflation.

by CNB