WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Senate Republicans just followed their House colleagues and voted down a proposal to give $250 bonuses to every Social Security recipient.

Republicans said they didn't want to increase the nation's debt. George Voinovich, the Ohio Republican who is retiring this month, was among those voting no.

oinovich spokeswoman Garrette Silverman said the senator voted no because the cost was not offset by savings or revenue elsewhere in the federal budget. 

Although the votes for the measure outnumbered those against it, Democrats could not get the two-thirds majority required in the House to pass the measure under procedural rules, or the 60 votes required in the Senate.

Retirees' Social Security raises are linked to the cost of living, and measures used to assess inflation have not reflected a need to put more money in seniors' pockets for two straight years. Retirees' groups say those measures do not reflect the high percentage of Social Security income that goes to pay health care costs, which are rising.

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