Senate rejects $250 checks for elderly

[heli]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62305U20100304

Senate rejects $250 checks for elderly

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A measure to give some 57 million elderly people, veterans and persons with disabilities a $250 check was rejected by the Senate on Wednesday, a setback for the powerful seniors' lobby.

President Barack Obama has called for Congress to approve the payments to make up for their benefits not increasing this year, but the Senate defeated it 50 to 47. The payments would have added $13 billion to a $108 billion job-creation package pending in the Senate. Congress approved payments last year as part of the $862 billion stimulus package.

Social Security payments for the elderly and disabled will stay flat this year for the first time since 1975 because they are tied to consumer prices, which decreased amid the worst economic recession in 70 years. That follows a year in which payments rose by 5.8 percent, largely due to a spike in gasoline prices.

"It is wrong to turn our backs on seniors in this moment of economic difficulty," said Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who sponsored the amendment. But Republican Senator Judd Gregg pointed out that the bill would defeat the purpose of indexing Social Security payments to inflation. "The law says it shouldn't be given," Gregg said. At least 10 Democrats agreed with Gregg and joined 40 Republicans to defeat the proposal.

[WhiteTara]

1. damn it. My mom really could have used

those small funds.

[ProSense]

2. What the hell is wrong with

Feingold?

Roll call

NAYs ---50
Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bennet (D-CO)
Bennett (R-UT)
Brown (R-MA)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Carper (D-DE)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Landrieu (D-LA)
LeMieux (R-FL)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lugar (R-IN)
McCain (R-AZ)
McCaskill (D-MO)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Nelson (D-NE)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Udall (D-CO)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (D-VA)
Wicker (R-MS)

[asjr]

5. I wonder how many of these

voted for Bush's huge tax cuts.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. + infinity and beyond

[progressoid]

6. Hey Look! Bipartisanship!

:woohoo:

[WillyT]

12. LOL !!! - Yeah... Huh ???

:wtf:

:banghead:

:mad:

[MadHound]

24. Wow, now that truly is bizarre

Some of those names up there are stunners. Worse yet, my 'Pug Senator, Bond, voted for the checks while my Dem Senator, McCaskill. didn't. How fucked up is that?

[POAS]

3. Somehow I think this will be back, perhaps as an

amendment to another bill.

[Cetacea]

4. I will work to defeat all of the dems who voted against it. Russ included.

And what the hell was Obama possibly thinking when he tried to include Judd Gregg in his cabinet? He's one of his biggest visible critics.

edit: unless it comes back attached to another bill

[Warren Stupidity]

7. Who were the 10?

We suck at this whole party politics thing. Our side just doesn't get it.

[TheBigotBasher]

9. It is on the mail list but here are the disgraced.

Bayh (D-IN)
Bennet (D-CO)
Carper (D-DE)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Nelson (D-NE)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Udall (D-CO)
Warner (D-VA)

(which makes 13?)

[Elwood P Dowd]

10. Government inflation figures are worthless.

The CPI numbers do not include food and energy, which are a big part of a senior's budget. There are also all the substitution tricks they use to mask "real" inflation. It's just a trick to keep from actually paying seniors what they're rightfully due from Social Security.

[taught_me_patience]

36. Wrong... gasoline is included in CPI

From the article:

Social Security payments for the elderly and disabled will stay flat this year for the first time since 1975 because they are tied to consumer prices, which decreased amid the worst economic recession in 70 years. That follows a year in which payments rose by 5.8 percent, largely due to a spike in gasoline prices.

[onehandle]

11. Man, I hate to say it, but I agree with this vote. But only because of the check.

Give them $250 somehow, please. But this bullshit of issuing checks to citizens is a Karl Rove thing. The so-called 'tax rebates' under Bush were only to appeal to simple people for their votes.

I never want to see us spending millions on a paper check again. From Democrats or Republicans.

Give them the help someway else.

[Elwood P Dowd]

13. Calculate inflation accurately

and increase our monthly check accordingly.

[onehandle]

17. Fine by me. nt

[pipi_k]

22. Well technically, it probably wouldn't have been a check except

for recipients who usually do get a check anyway.

They try to encourage electronic deposits, and that's how we (at my house) got the last stimulus payment...an automatic deposit to our savings accounts.

[dixiegrrrrl]

34. We could have used the money, in our checks.

But I agree with you.
the money would have been created out of thin air, added to the debt.

Of course, the real issue is the government can afford to pay all sorts of contractors and war profiteers
and...well, we all know the long and sorry list.

A mere sop of 250.00 for the year I see as nothing more than a conscience bribe.
And they could not even manage to do that.

[L0oniX]

14. That our good ol goberment ...fuck the elderly ...thanks ...YOU FUCKING HEARTLESS ASSCARROTS!

Rich mutha fuckas!

[starroute]

15. There should be a separate inflation rate for seniors

Most seniors are not out there buying the big ticket items that help keep the inflation rate down -- the widescreen tv's and washing machines and other gadgets. They're buying necessities, and the price of those keeps going up.

I know the government would never go for it, because they're already trying to keep the inflation rate artificially low, partly to avoid having to increase Social Security. But it would do a far better job of recognizing the real pain many seniors are experiencing.

[pipi_k]

19. Yep, there goes part of

the wood pellets for next winter.

With two of us here on SS, that would have been two tons, at least.


fuckers

[Lugnut]

32. We're trying to pay increasing utility bills.

Sewer and electric bills have gone up. Our Medicare supplemental premiums went up 32%. We're getting choked with day to day increases and nobody cares.

[aquart]

16. What a surprise.

[Kat45]

18. I see Scott Brown voted with the republicans on this one.

Not that I'm surprised.

[pipi_k]

20. I'm not surprised either

Teddy wouldn't have done that.

[onehandle]

25. Massachusetts Dems need to make sure the older folks there hear about this.

They need to start picking away at him right now if they want any chance of toasting him in '12.

[eShirl]

21. ok, when does the Senate vote on giving themselves their next raise?

[Foo Fighter]

23. Excellent question.

And you can be damn sure their raise will be more than $250. Hell, that's less than the tab when a lobbyist takes them out for a casual lunch.

Here's an idea. How about indexing their raises to the CPI instead of having them vote on it? It's only fair. Of course, the vast majority of them are millionaires anyway so it really won't matter but I'd still like to see it. (Well, actually I'd like to see them work for minimum wage with no bennies and punch a damn time clock but that will never happen.)

[Igel]

27. The Senate doesn't vote on its pay raises.

They're automatic.

And indexed to the CPI.

Many years--not every year--they vote to reject their pay raise. In any event, any member is free to reject it.

Currently at something like $174k/year.

[Bitwit1234]

26. WHO ARE THE DEMOCRATS

you see the republicans stuck together.

[MzShellG]

28. This sucks

It's insane in congress right now. Where's the humanity? Elderly folks are suffering the most with medical and peescription cost on a tight budget. Why no help for them?

[gvstn]

29. What do old people need more money for?

It's not like old people have medical conditions that require daily medications to help them out.

Where did I read that prescription drug prices have decreased this year? I can't seem to find the article?

Google just gives me this crappy New York Times' article that is surely biased. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/business/16drugprices.html

Google results for "Prescription Drug Prices Percentage 2009" http://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&safe=off&q=prescription+drug+prices+percentage+2009&btnG=Search&cts=1267679800950&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

[SoCalDem]

31. Perhaps you read it at NewsMax or on FoxNews.com

:rofl:

[starsky9]

30. So cruel and heartless - unbelievable

it's the elderly and disabled who are the most vulnerable in our society.

[ChicagoSuz219]

33. Shame on them!

...not to mention short-sighted. BIG voting bloc. Wrong place to take a stand. FAIL.

[williesgirl]

35. The US only has money for wars and corporations, not the elderly or disabled. Shame on us. rec'd