U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Ill., has signed on to a bill that would give a $150 one-time payment to Social Security recipients who are being denied a cost-of-living adjustment next year.

The denial, the first since 1975, has riled senior citizens.

Social Security trustees projected last month that there wouldn't be an increase because the inflation index didn't warrant it.

With lower energy prices, costs in 2009 were down from the year before.

At a town hall meeting last month, Hare blasted the decision, particularly after a senior citizen approached him about it at a meeting at the Rock Island Senior Center.

"Seniors in my district on fixed incomes are already struggling to afford everything from health care to groceries," Hare said in a statement Thursday. "No government equation or formula changes that."

As of the end of last year, there were about 180,000 seniors getting Social Security payments in the two congressional districts that include the Quad-Cities.

The bill is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-New York. It was introduced Tuesday.

An initial estimate says it will cost about $7.3 billion. It's not clear where the money will come from to pay for it.

Backers of the trustee's decision to forgo a cost-of-living increase say Social Security recipients got an abnormally high 5.8 percent boost in 2009, and with inflation flat last year there isn't a reason for an increase.

They also note seniors got a $250 payment from the federal stimulus package.

Senior advocates, however, say that the Social Security system's index doesn't adequately account for costs that hit seniors particularly hard, like prescription drug prices.

In June, the average monthly Social Security payment was $1,159. The $150 payment would be a one-time only expenditure.

A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, said he is studying the proposal.