Buying votes

The House is considering a bill which would send payments of $250 to Social Security recipients. According to Nancy Pelosi, the payments are needed because the Social Security Administration has decided not to provide a cost of living increase this year.

The reason there will be no increase? Because there shouldn't be. The cost of living has gone down, meaning SS recipients come out ahead if their payments stay the same as last year.

So why do we need to send them an extra $250 when they're already better off than they were last year?

Wait. It gets worse:

Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) has introduced a bill to provide another round of $250 payments.

"Seniors who rely on their modest Social Security payments need these cost-of-living adjustments for their day-to-day survival," said Pomeroy, who chairs the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security. "Passing this bill will ensure that the lack of cost-of-living adjustment will not jeopardize seniors' ability to survive on their benefits."

Pelosi says passage of the bill would be "fiscally responsible."

I'm sure this has nothing to do with the fact that there's an election in November.

It can't get here soon enough as far as I'm concerned.