Projo Politics Blog

WASHINGTON -- The Senate passed an economic rescue plan today that would speed $600 to $1,200 in rebates to most taxpayers and $300 checks to low-income people, including disabled veterans and the elderly.

The 81-16 vote capped more than a week of political maneuvering that ended only when majority Democrats dropped their demand that the proposal offer jobless benefits, heating aid for the poor and tax breaks for certain industries.

GOP senators blocked those ideas, but agreed to add the rebates for older people and disabled veterans to a $161 billion measure the House passed last month.

House leaders said they would act as early as tonight to send the measure to President Bush.

Bush indicated he would sign the measure and said the Senate made changes "in ways I can support."

"This plan is robust, broad-based, timely, and it will be effective," Bush said in a statement. The compromise, he said, was "an example of bipartisan cooperation at a time when the American people most expect it."

In press release on the Senate action, U.S. Sen. Shelon Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, noted he had urged Senate leaders in a letter last month to include aid to seniors in legislation aimed at boosting the economy.

“The Senate did the right thing today,” the Rhode Island Democrat said. “In Rhode Island, too many seniors are struggling to make ends meet, trying to stretch Social Security checks to cover rising housing, prescription, and energy costs. This assistance won’t solve those problems, but it will give older Americans a little help they desperately need.”

More than 138,000 Rhode Islanders over the age of 65 received Social Security benefits in 2006, the last year for which data is available, with Social Security benefits averaging just $12,374 per year, according to Whitehouse. Nationwide, 61 percent of seniors who receive Social Security benefits did not pay income taxes in 2006, a technicality that would have left them ineligible to receive aid under an earlier proposal negotiated between President Bush and the House of Representatives.

-- With Associated Press reports

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