Obama urges Congress to approve new payments to elderly

President Barack Obama urged Congress on Wednesday to approve additional $13 billion payments next year – or $250 per person- to senior citizens, military veterans and disabled people to help them weather the economic recession.

“Even as we seek to bring about recovery, we must act on behalf of those hardest hit by this recession,” Obama said in a statement. “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.”

The White House said Obama’s proposal would provide an additional year of the $250 “Economic Recovery Payments” that initially were enacted as part of the administration’s $787 billion stimulus package and should not be viewed, therefore, as a start of a second stimulus plan.

“The president is committed to ensuring that the $13 billion cost of the proposal does not reduce the solvency of Social Security or other social insurance programs,” the White House said.

Congress has still to draw up legislation for ratification and approval of the measure.

[via newsdaily.com]