Senate Rejects $250 Payments For People With Disabilities

Senators said no Wednesday to a second round of $250 stimulus payments for people with disabilities, seniors and veterans.

The 50 to 47 vote is a blow to President Barack Obama who asked Congress in October to approve one-time payments for 2010 similar to those provided to Social Security recipients in 2009.

“We must act on behalf of those hardest hit by this recession,” Obama said at the time.

Under the proposal 57 million Americans — including 5 million Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries — would have received a one-time payment of $250 at a total cost of $13 billion.

Last year one-time $250 stimulus payments were distributed as part of a large package of measures intended to stimulate the economy.

The push for a second round of payments came as the government announced last fall that there would be no cost-of-living increase (COLA) for Social Security payments in 2010. By law, Social Security benefits are required to increase with inflation, but since inflation declined in 2009 benefits remained steady.