Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today made the following statement, calling upon Congress to serve members of our community who rely on Social Security and their Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA):

“Not withstanding the analysis by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that price changes do not warrant the traditional adjustment in Social Security payments, it is imperative that Congress act to provide means to our nation’s seniors who rely upon their Social Security checks for everything from food and rent to medication.

“When our economy was on the brink of disaster after Wall Street bankers made risky bets with our investments and our retirement plans, Congress acted swiftly to bail out those responsible.  Congress should not fail to provide an increase in Social Security payments to our nation’s elderly and vulnerable.

"Congress put little limits or regulations on bailouts for banks.  It should act to provide a modest adjustment to payments for those who need assistance. Congress allowed Wall Street to pay record bonuses after receiving hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars. Is it too much to ask that we help our seniors at this time when they need it the most?

 

 “I call upon Congress to do what is necessary to ensure that the needs of our seniors are met,” said Kucinich.

Congressman Kucinich is a co-sponsor of H.R. 3810, the Emergency Senior Citizens Relief Act of 2009, which would provide $250 in economic recovery payments to senior citizens during the 2010 calendar year.  Since Social Security began automatically adjusting payments for inflation in 1975, payments have increased between 1.3% and 14.3% every year. H.R. 3810 was introduced to provide assistance for seniors after it was announced that, for the first time, there would be no Cost of Living Adjustment in 2010.  2011 will be the second year in a row without an increase in Social Security.

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