As the adverse impact of Covid-19 bites harder, the Senior Citizens League has asked the U.S. Senate to introduce an additional $1,400 stimulus check.
According to a report by Chronicle99, the rampant inflation has led to prices of essential commodities surging. It is hitting the most vulnerable US society, the poor and the seniors, including pensioners who cannot meet their ends with the paltry social security pensions.
Data on inflation shows that the U.S. has seen the highest inflation in forty years and the 2022 cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) is also set to be the highest in 40 years. It will push many seniors into the higher tax bracket. The new stimulus check will cushion the effect of some of the pain of rising prices.
Since October 2020, consumers have been shelling out extra money due to surging prices. Food prices have shot by more than 5%, while energy costs have increased by 30%. With a severe winter in the offing, the energy bill of the average senior citizen is going to swell even further, the Bureau of Labor Statistics stated in a report.
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While COLA has augmented Social Security benefits by 55%, prices for housing and healthcare increased 118% and 145%, respectively.
With the Build Back Better Act before the Senate being stamped by Senator Joe Manchin, the economic spending bill if unapproved could end many stimulus packages the government initiative to help people during the pandemic.
Manchin has described the BBB act as medicine that will aggravate the very ill it seeks to prevent. Citing the bill as the precipitator of inflation will lead to the economy going in a tailspin.
