H.R. 5987 (111th): Seniors Protection Act of 2010

Introduced:
Jul 30, 2010 (111th Congress, 2009–2010)
Sponsor:
Rep. Earl Pomeroy [D-ND0]
Status:
Died (Failed Under Suspension)

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

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Status

This bill was introduced in a previous session of Congress but was killed due to a failed vote for cloture, under a fast-track vote called "suspension", or while resolving differences on December 8, 2010.

Progress
Introduced Jul 30, 2010
Failed Under Suspension Dec 08, 2010
Votes

House Vote on Passage
Dec 08, 2010 12:06 p.m.
Failed 254/153

Cosponsors
158 cosponsors (158D) (show)
Committees

House Transportation and Infrastructure

House Veterans' Affairs

House Ways and Means

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

To ensure that seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities who receive Social Security and certain other Federal benefits receive a one-time $250 payment in the event that no cost-of-living adjustment is payable in 2011.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Jul 30, 2010.
14 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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Citation

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

7/30/2010--Introduced.
Seniors Protection Act of 2010 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to disburse a $250 payment to recipients of Social Security, SSI (Supplemental Security Income under title XVI of the Social Security Act), railroad retirement benefits, and veterans disability compensation or pension benefits if no cost-of-living adjustment is payable in 2011.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/111/2/hr5987.

Background

The unusually high Social Security COLA increase of 5.8 percent in 2009 was mostly due to the increasing costs of food and energy costs in 2008.  However, due to the economic decline and the drop in energy prices, CPI-W dropped below the threshold for triggering an automatic adjustment in the COLA for 2010 and again in 2011.  The will be the second consecutive year without a cost-of-living adjustment.

Summary

H.R. 5987 would provide a one-time payment of $250 to beneficiaries of Social Security, Supplementary Security Income, railroad retirement benefits, or veterans’ disability compensation in lieu of the Social Security Administration cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) would have been payable in 2011.  The legislation continues the one-time payment of $250 originally passed in the Democrats’ stimulus.

Member Concerns:  As the national debt nears $14 trillion, members may be concerned about spending an additional $14 billion on a one-time payment of $250 to a particular demographic that has faired statistically better than the rest of the economy.  According to Census Bureau data, the poverty rate increased for all Americans last year, but fell for people age 65 and older.

Finally, members should be aware that in 2009 Social Security beneficiaries received an unusually high 5.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment to their benefits.  The CPI-W (consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers) remains well below the 2008 period which is used to measure the COLA amounts for 2010 and 2011.

Cost

There is currently no CBO score for H.R. 5987; however, similar bills providing a $250 one-time payment have received a cost estimate from CBO to the tune of nearly $14 billion.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.

The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)