Posted on 12/08/2010 12:48:11 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo
House Republicans on Wednesday thwarted a Democratic effort to award $250 checks to Social Security recipients facing a second consecutive year without a cost-of-living increase.
President Barack Obama and Democrats have urged approval of the one-time payment, saying seniors barely getting by on their Social Security checks face undue hardships without the COLA increase.
But Republicans contended that the nation couldn't afford the estimated $14 billion cost of the payment, and that the COLA freezes in 2010 and 2011 come after seniors received a significant boost in 2009.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Dem House.
Dem Senate.
Yep, it's our fault.
So, when are the Democrats going to offer to stop by the houses of elderly folk and do their hedges and mow their lawns...and then pay them for the privilege?
Regime media deceit.
The lame duck democrat party totally dominates the House and could easily pass this bill.
That S.O.B. Obama takes with one hand, gives back with the other, and then boasts about how generous he is to our suffering seniors and waits for everyone to thank him for his generosity.
Sorry, but the cost of living freeze was bogus in the first place. There is obvious inflation in the essentials you need to survive—food, gas, home heating, electric bills, etc.
If he’s so damned compassionate, why did he push through that bogus s.s. freeze in the first place?
Aw, come on, guys. I’m living on SS right now and $250 isn’t going to help anyone enough to make a difference. This is just politicians trying to buy a vote or two.
Well, even if it is a product of the GOP, good for them. The nation is broke, everyone is going to have to learn some deprivation...even seniors. If they think this is going to be carried on the backs of the working class, someone needs to give them the wake up call.
They didn’t take it through the normal committee process.
The democrats hate the committees, because they don’t always behave, in this case I’m sure they are afraid the committee would attach a straight-up tax cut extension, and Pelosi has been avoiding that like the plague, because she knows it will pass, and then they wouldn’t have bargaining chips to get their unemployment insurance.
So they had to bring it up under fast-track procedures. Note they have known about this for months, and had plenty of time to NOT fast-track it. fast-track was originally for emergencies, and for things that were simple and everybody agreed on. It requires 2/3rds vote (this is the House rule for skipping committees and getting on the floor calendar without scheduling).
For 2/3rds, they needed some republicans, and so it is reasonable to say that the republicans blocked the passage, since they didn’t vote for it.
Isn’t it this administration that declined to give them a COLA again??
lol
I understand the Conservative thinking.
BUT, CONGRESS GOT A PAY RAISE IN 2009 AND 2010 AND I BET THEY GET ONE IN 2011.
SO WHY CAN’T I HAVE MY COLA???
There was no freeze pushed through. Social Security COLA increases are determined by a formula based on increases in the CPI, not voted on yearly.
$250 is a lose-lose. it really is an insulting figure; not enough for the recipients to appreciate, and it accomplishes nothing other than to swell the deficit.
Ya mean that the fraudulent Pigford black senior farmers will only get $50,000 instead of $50, 250.
The reason Soetoro and his fellow Communists favor sending out checks for a flat amount is:
1) It looks to the stupid seniors (the only ones who will ever vote for Soetoro and the Communists again) as though Soetoro is doing them a favor;
2) It screws over the “rich” seniors, whose COLA would have been larger than the “poor” seniors’.
It’s not really bogus. It’s not whether cost of living went up this year, it’s whether it is higher than it was in August of 2008, when the last CPI increase was calculated. That CPI was artificially high because gasoline was over $4.00 a gallon (it is at $3.00 a gallon now, a 25% reduction).
Until the total CPI rises above what it was in August of 2008, there will be no adjustment.
On the other hand, They got a 5.9% increase for 2009 based on the 2008 number. If they had done the CPI in November instead of September, the increase would have been much less, there’d be a small increase now, and their total SS would be about the same as it will be.
I think seniors are better off having gotten the increase 2 years ago.
And, of course, the CPI is showing very little inflation.
Funny how that works out. It couldn’t be that the government is lying to us, could it?
And the CPI is "cooked" to hide the inflation that the COLA is supposed to offset.
No, they don’t vote on the COLAs, as you say. But they do fudge the CPI. It is gotten almost completely bogus. And, at the moment, the buck stops with Obama.
Exactly.....
See 16 and 17.
Twenty-six Republicans voted for the bill, while 141 opposed it. Democrats were in favor, 228-12.
I guess that explains the Dims' blaming this on the Republicans.
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