Dingy Harry to Seniors: Vote For Me, Maybe I'll Throw You $250

Can vote-buying stunts be any more shameless? Seriously, Dingy, how far is $250 going these days? Why didn't you instead push for a COLA increase while you were Majority Leader, a role we hope will soon end?

When Congress reconvenes after the election, lawmakers will vote on a measure to give an extra $250 to Social Security recipients, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promised Monday.

Democrats are billing the measure as a necessary helping hand for seniors in a year when they won’t be seeing any incremental increase in their benefit checks, as usually happens from year to year.

Since 1975, those annual increases have been tied to inflation – but according to the Labor Department, there hasn’t been much of that this year.

It's a last-ditch effort, say Republicans.

"It's clearly a last-ditch election-year Hail Mary," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio. If supplementing the incomes of seniors was really a priority, he said, Democrats would have acted on it before they adjourned for the campaign.