WE, your Memorialists, the Members of the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Maine now assembled in the Second Regular Session, most respectfully present and petition the President of the United States and the United States Congress as follows:

WHEREAS,  the Social Security Administration announced there will be no cost-of-living increase for 57,000,000 Social Security beneficiaries in 2010 because consumer prices have fallen; and

WHEREAS,  this year marks the first time that Social Security benefits have not increased annually since the cost-of-living adjustment requirement was put into effect in 1975; and

WHEREAS,  to help people who are not getting a cost-of-living increase, President Obama has called on Congress to send a $250 relief payment to every Social Security recipient, disabled veteran, railroad retirement recipient and citizen who receives a federal or state pension instead of Social Security to ease the economic strain; and

WHEREAS,  the government issued a $250 relief payment last year; and

WHEREAS,  this proposed $250 payment is roughly equal to only a 2% increase in benefits for the average Social Security beneficiary and last year Social Security beneficiaries got a 5.8% cost-of-living adjustment, the largest since 1982, largely because of the jump in energy prices; and

WHEREAS,  Congress approved a similar payment as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and, as with that payment, this 2nd payment would be exempt from income tax and provide immediate relief to those most in need; now, therefore, be it