Casey’s Bipartisan Bill to Protect Savings Accounts for People with Disabilities Unanimously Passes Senate

Casey created the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) program in 2014 to allow people with disabilities to save money without losing eligibility for critical federal programs

Three ABLE provisions that make the program more accessible and expansive are set to expire in 2025

Casey's ENABLE Act, which passed the Senate unanimously, would enshrine those provisions in law permanently

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, applauded the Senate's passage of his bipartisan Ensuring Nationwide Access to a Better Life Experience (ENABLE) Act, which would extend three key provisions of the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) program. ABLE, created by Senator Casey in 2014, allows people with disabilities and their families to save and invest through tax-free savings accounts without losing eligibility for federal programs like Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Three provisions that make the program accessible to more people with disabilities and make it easier for those in the program to save are set to expire in 2025. The bipartisan ENABLE Act, which Casey introduced alongside Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) earlier this year,would enshrine these provisions into law permanently.

"For years, people with disabilities were barred from saving for the future, meaning they couldn't save for a home, purchase needed assistive technology, or save for an accessible car. I worked to create the ABLE program to knock down those barriers, and ever since I've been working across the aisle to make sure the program is as effective as it can be," said Chairman Casey. "Now that my bipartisan bill to prevent some key ABLE provisions from expiring has passed the Senate, it is on its way to ensuring that as many people with disabilities as possible across the country can continue to benefit from opening ABLE accounts."

People with disabilities are more than twice as likely to live in poverty compared to people without disabilities, yet households including a person with a work-limiting disability need, on average, 28 percent more income to obtain the same standard of living as people without disabilities. For a long time, this intersection of disability and poverty was made worse by asset limitations for federal assistance programs that many people with disabilities rely on. Senator Casey created the ABLE program to fix problem for more than 181,000 people with disabilities across the United States, who have saved approximately $2 billion since the program was created.

Three key ABLE provisions are set to expire in 2025:

• ABLE to Work: A person with a disability who is employed can contribute an additional amount to his or her ABLE account. This additional contribution cannot be greater than either:
• • the prior year's federal poverty level for a one-person household ($15,060 in 2024), or
  • the beneficiary's yearly compensation.
• ABLE Saver's Credit: A person with a disability who makes qualified contributions to their ABLE account can qualify for a nonrefundable saver's credit of up to $1,000.
• 529 to ABLE rollover: A person with a disability may rollover from a 529 education savings account to an ABLE account funds that are less than or equal to the annual ABLE contribution limit are not subject to income taxation.

The ENABLE Act would make all three provisions permanent, enshrining expanded access to the ABLE program. The bipartisan bill was co-sponsored by Senators John Boozman (R-AR), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Peter Welch (D-VT), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Katie Britt (R-AL), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Markwayne Mulllin (R-OK), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Mike Lee (R-UT), Christopher Coons (D-DE), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), John Cornyn (R-TX), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Thomas Carper (D-DE), Thomas Tillis (R-NC).

As the lead sponsor of the ABLE Act, passed in 2014, Senator Casey has long been a champion of ABLE accounts. He introduced the ABLE Age Adjustment Act to extend the eligibility of ABLE accounts from those who acquired their disability before the age of 26 to the age of 46. At an Aging Committee field hearing in August 2022, Senator Casey uplifted the success of the ABLE program and pushed for his bill to expand the program to 6.2 million additional Americans, including more than one million veterans. Senator Casey's bill passed in December 2022 and takes effect in 2026.

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