New cosponsors sign on to Social Security Fairness Act .Prescription Drug Re-Importation – Making safe, secure re-importation a reality. .Also this week, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) expressed optimism that he will gain support for the bill to lower prescription drug prices that he and Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) have written. Grassley's remarks came in the light of President Trump's State of the Union speech where he thanked Grassley for his work on the drug price issue and urged Congress to get a bill passed and sent to him. .To address this issue, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (AZ), suggested that the Committee focus on waste, fraud, and abuse, since it's a topic that generally has bipartisan support. He stated, "Some people fear the solution has to be a cut in benefits. There may be very substantial savings that can be achieved through efficiencies." Most at the hearing seemed to agree with him. .Support for the IPAB at both hearings was scarce. Some Members, including the Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, Chris Van Hollen (MD), called the IPAB a necessary "failsafe" measure that will stabilize healthcare costs. He stressed the fact that the experts on the IPAB will make recommendations, but Congress will ultimately have the final say in whether or not they become law. .An abrupt jump in inflation in February and March of this year wiped out a short-lived improvement in the buying power of Social Security benefits in 2020, according to TSCL's latest study on rising senior costs. The study, which compares the growth in the Social Security cost of living adjustments (COLA)s with increases in the costs of goods and services typically used by retirees, found that, while consumer prices flatlined in 2020 through January 2021, costs are now sharply increasing. .To make the Social Security program fairer, The Senior Citizens League is advocating for legislation that would give beneficiaries a more adequate annual COLA. Under current law, the COLA is based on the spending patterns of young, working Americans. It fails to capture the true inflation seniors experience since it does not include major expenses like rising Medicare premiums. The bipartisan CPI-E Act (H.R. 1251) would base the COLA on the spending patterns of older Americans, and it's a change that is backed by 81 percent of The Senior Citizens League's supporters according to the results of our 2018 Senior Survey. .More than one quarter of respondents spent from 0 to 9 a month on their healthcare during the first six months in 201That ranges from 27% to as much as 54% of the average monthly Social Security payment, which is hovering at ,100 this year. The majority of respondents, 45%, reported that they received a monthly Social Security benefit that falls within the range of 1 to ,335 after deduction for the Medicare Part B premium. .We will get through this.