May 8, 2009
Washington, D.C. -- Today, Congressman Carney announced that the $250 payments for Social Security and SSI recipients, which were provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will be delivered during the month of May. The recipients in Northeast and Central Pennsylvania will receive roughly $36 million.
“Seniors and veterans have always been among my top priorities and these economic recovery payments will really make a difference in the lives of millions of older and disabled Americans – many of whom have been hit hard by the economic crisis,” said Carney. “The $36 million that our constituents will receive will go a long way toward boosting our local economy and helping folks make ends meet.”
More than 50 million Americans will get this one-time payment. The demographic receiving these payments is men and women over age 65 living alone, such as widows, widowers, divorced persons, and those never married. Among America’s senior population, these are the seniors with the lowest average incomes.
In addition to the economic recovery payments being made to Social Security and SSI recipients, the Recovery Act also provides these payments to disabled veterans and Railroad Retirement recipients. The payments to Railroad Retirement recipients are scheduled to begin to go out in late May and the payments to disabled veterans in June.
“We enacted the largest tax cut in American history and in addition, these $250 payments for those Americans unlikely to qualify for the Making Work Pay tax cut – older Americans, disabled veterans, and retirees,” said Carney. “This extra money will help millions of Americans during this struggling economy. We need to protect our most vulnerable citizens; and I will always fight for our retirees, seniors, and veterans.”
These payments will make a difference:
• Social Security is the only source of income for nearly one-third of all nonmarried seniors receiving Social Security.
• The median annual income for nonmarried Social Security recipients over age 65 who are women is only $13,151. The median annual income of nonmarried Social Security recipients over age 65 who are men is only $17,611.
• Nearly 30 percent of nonmarried Social Security recipients who are women over age 65 are poor or near-poor – with 17.4 percent living below the federal poverty line and another 10.8 percent with incomes below 125 percent of the poverty line.
Payments began to go out on May 7, 2009—with the goal of the payments being sent out by the end of May. The payments go to adult Social Security recipients – not to those under the age of 18. If someone regularly receives benefits from two or more of these programs – such as Social Security and Railroad Retirement, or a disabled veterans’ benefit and SSI – he or she will receive just one $250 payment.
###
