The OASI Trust Fund is a separate account in the United States Treasury. The trust fund provides automatic spending authority to the Social Security Administration (SSA) to pay monthly benefits to retired-worker (old-age) beneficiaries and their spouses and children and to survivors of deceased insured workers. With such spending authority the SSA does not need to periodically request money from Congress to pay benefits. For more information, see the Social Security Administration’s publications on Retirement Benefits and Survivor’s Benefits.

Benefits are adjusted for inflation using the Bureau of Economic Analysis price index for Gross Domestic Product. See National Income and Product Accounts.