Atlanta Progressive News

President Obama announced his support for a $250 economic recovery payment to seniors, veterans, and disabled Americans who are struggling to make ends meet in the first year of the recession.

Here’s how it would work:

• 57 million people would benefit. These include 49 million Social Security beneficiaries, 5 million Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries, 2 million veterans benefit recipients, 500,000 railroad retirement and disability beneficiaries, and also about 1 million public-employee retirees not entitled to any of the previous benefits.
• The benefit would be $250 “or equivalent to a 2 percent increase in benefits for the average Social Security retiree beneficiary. Under the rules no person could €œ”double dip”€ and receive a $250 Economic Recovery Payment through more than one program. Nor could they receive both an Economic Recovery Payment and the Making Work Pay tax credit.
• The total cost of the proposal would be $13 billion “and would not hurt the solvency of Social Security.
• Would extend an effective relief program. To date Economic Recovery Payments have been made to 55 million people including seniors, veterans and people with disabilities and totaled $13.7 billion. Most of the checks were mailed out in May 2009.

“These payments will provide aid to more than 50 million people in the coming year, relief that will not only make a difference for them, but for our economy as a whole, complementing the tax cuts we’€™ve provided working families and small businesses through the Recovery Act,” President Obama said in a statement. “This additional assistance will be especially important in the coming months, as countless seniors and others have seen their retirement accounts and home values decline as a result of this economic crisis.”

The IRS and the Department of Treasury will also take steps this week to prevent reductions in the money workers can contribute to 401(k)s, IRAs, and other tax-favored retirement systems.