10 Democrats and 40 Republicans voted down Senior stimulus benefit of $ 250?

Where would they get the money? I think Obama spends way too easily. Maybe he knows he won't have to pay it back, someone else will.

Just like my kids love to spend money when I'm giving it to them, but when the have their own money, all of a sudden they're careful with it.

This is seventh grade civics. Have you been to seventh grade yet? Okay. One more time. Every bill has to be passed TWICE. Once by the House, once by the Senate. The House passed one version of the bill. All dems voted for it. No repubs. The Senate passed a different version of the bill. All dems + 3 repubs voted for it. The rest of the repubs voted against it. Because the two versions of the bill are different, they have to go to a something called a conference committee. That's a committee made up of some of the members of both parties from both chambers. That's House dems and repubs, Senate dems and repubs. The conference committee negotiates and compromises to come to a single, final version of the bill. That's put into something called the Conference Report. THEN the conference report goes BACK to the House and the Senate. Each chamber has to vote again. The House voted to approve the conference report. The Senate vote was finished about 3 minutes ago. So now it's done. However, generally, if the bill doesn't pass both chambers - House and Senate - it dies and they start all over again. Maybe you should save or print this answer. This is going to happen a lot.

This is the reason I don't vote for incumbents. I have made two exceptions to that rule since 1969. One was definitely a mistake and the jury is still out on the other but it's looking bad also.

I will probably get hate mail for a month but I do have to say, "It may be the first reasonable thing I have seen from this congress/administration". $250 is not going to help me very much and certainly not over the long run and the cost of the program would put my great great great grand-kids into debt.

I do have one problem with your question. You make it sound like the Republicans are to blame. Democrats control both houses, the Republicans can't affect a thing in either house. If you consider something good and it doesn't pass it's the Republicans fault. Come on gang, the guy in the White House is showing you how impotent a President can be; LEARN from it and quit blaming George Bush. Barry built this beast and now we are all going to pay dearly for it.

To me $250.00 is a drop in the bucket. It would just go into the bank and I would pay bills with it, but it is not enough for me to pay off any credit card I have. I would just buy food with it and end up gaining weight, I guess. I grew up poor, so I know how to make do if need be. I have more now than I have ever had.

At what point does gov become too big? Certainly we must be at that point by now. Gov expanded it self beyond the proverbial economics term "what the market will bear". The greedy constantly press issues this way, frequently to the point of disrupting the positive future if not makin it irreversible.

As soon as gov downsizes it self the rest of us can consider making sacrifices.

We would have had to borrow more money from China to do this and if $250 is all it takes to change a persons life then we are all in trouble.

The Politicians have to quit spending money that we don't have.

Congress did not pass up their automatic COLA, which they voted FOR themselves. Obama seems to be very interested in making friends and pleasing everyone...it can't be done. Running a country is not an easy task, and he will make people unhappy no matter what he does. I really, really wish he had not done the trillions of dollars of bailouts, with CEOs still getting their millions of dollars in bonuses, then it wouldn't be quite so hard to take the the loss of the $250.00 benefit.

When we see our elected servants spending so much on themselves and huge businesses and corporations, spending billions on wars, and sending billions to foreign countries, it is very frustrating not to get a measely $250.00. They have made it very clear where their priorities are. VOTE THEM OUT!

Will say health care getting passed is far more important to allot more people than 250 for seniors.

I'll forgo the $250 for membership in their healthcare plan.

You can't walk both sides of the street. Either you're against government spending or you're for it. You can't be upset because they spend money on someone else and then be upset because they don't spend it on you. Sure I could have used the extra money but I don't need it, and I can't very well be upset with them for spending money elsewhere if I'm not willing to forgo it for myself.