Federal Daily - March 30, 2009

Social Security, SSI Beneficiaries to Get $250 Stimulus Checks

The federal government announced March 26 that, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, it soon will start mailing one-time $250 economic recovery payments to people who receive Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. To receive the payment, an individual must be eligible for Social Security or SSI during the months of November 2008, December 2008 or January 2009, and cannot be receiving Medicaid in a care facility. No action is required to get the payment, which will be sent separately from the regular monthly payment, Vice President Joe Biden and Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue said in a statement. The checks are set to go out in May. Children under the age of 18 (19 if still in high school) who receive Social Security benefits are not eligible for the one-time payment. Beneficiaries should wait until after June 4 if they don’t get a payment to notify the local Social Security office or call 800-772-1213 to report a missing payment. The legislation also provides for a one-time payment to Veterans Affairs and Railroad Retirement Board beneficiaries, but those two entities will be responsible for paying individuals under their respective programs. To see more, go to: www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Vice-President-Biden-Announces-250-Dollar-Recovery-Payments-to-Go-to-Social-Security-and-SSI-Beneficiaries-in-May.

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Lawmakers Dismayed Over Hazard at VA Medical Center in Miami

House members from Florida expressed dismay over reports that patients at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Miami were potentially exposed to Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C or HIV, due to improper hygienic use of endoscopy or colonoscopy equipment. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., on March 26 said they were concerned after VA announced that all patients having undergone endoscopic or colonoscopic exams from May 2004 to March were at risk of having been exposed to the diseases. “This is a very disturbing matter with the potential of having severely impacted many of our veterans,” the lawmakers wrote in a joint statement. “We are outraged at the lack of accountability and oversight that may have caused this serious health hazard to take place, and we have asked for hearings in Congress to investigate the matter promptly and seriously.” Patients who have had these procedures performed at the Miami VA Medical Center should contact the Special Care Call Center (available seven days a week, 24 hours a day) at 305-575-7256, or toll-free at 877-575-7256 to schedule an appointment for a blood-test screening. To see more, go to: http://mariodiazbalart.house.gov/?sectionid=13&
sectiontree=6,13&itemid=937.

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Bill Would Ease Restrictions on Overseas Voting

House lawmakers reintroduced a bill that would—if signed into law—make it easier for servicemembers serving abroad and civilians living overseas to vote in U.S. elections. The bill, H.R. 1739, would amend the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, and was introduced March 26 by Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Michael Honda, D-Calif. The bill is designed to address concerns over absentee overseas and military voting programs. In 2008, one in four surveyed servicemembers stationed overseas did not receive a ballot for the November election last year. In addition, more than half of overseas Americans who tried to vote, but could not, were unable to do so because their ballots did not arrive in time, the lawmakers said. The bill would allow overseas voters to request to receive absentee ballots automatically; give military and overseas voters more time to correct registration issues prior to Election Day; and ensure states provide correct information and sufficient postage on preaddressed ballot return envelopes to prevent overseas mail from going astray. “Right now, too many of our military and overseas voters are disenfranchised by a tangle of bureaucratic red tape,” said Maloney. “The problems are persistent, including delivery issues, general lack of awareness of available voter assistance programs, and archaic state voting laws.” A new Pew Center on the States analysis shows that 25 states and Washington, D.C., need to improve their absentee balloting rules for military voters abroad. Specifically, the report found that more than a third of states do not provide military voters stationed abroad with enough time to vote. An additional six states provide time to vote only if their military personnel overseas return their completed absentee ballots by fax or e-mail, the report said. To see more, go to:
http://maloney.house.gov/index.php?option=content&
task=view&id=1820&Itemid=61 or www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/
NTTV_Report_Web.pdf.

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