“In 2009, the Social Security Administration administered the delivery of one-time economic recovery payments of $250 for most recipients of Social Security, Railroad Retirement, Supplemental Security Income, and Veterans’ Benefits. Individuals who qualified for or received any of these benefits anytime from November 2008 through January 2009 were eligible to receive this one-time economic recovery payment. The payments were sent by the Department of Treasury during May 2009. To examine the impact of these payments, staff of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) included special questions in the Interview component of the Consumer Expenditure Survey from July through September 2009. These questions were designed to collect information on whether the payment was received, and how it was used—whether the money was used mostly for spending, mostly for saving, or mostly for paying off debt. This report contains the first analysis of these data by staff of BLS. In the text that follows, consumer units that include at least one member who received a payment are referred to as recipient consumer units, and members who received a payment are recipients.”