News

  • Legislative Update Week Ending March 3 2017

    The COVID-19 recession of 2020 may potentially result in permanent benefit cuts for about 4 million people. Q & 038; March 2021 Can You Tell Me My Full Retirement Age? .The Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers (CPI-E) Act — Congressman John Garamendi (CA-3) introduced the bipartisan CPI-E Act in the 115th Congress, and in TSCL's December meeting with his office, he committed to re-introducing the bill once again in 201If adopted, his bill would enhance Social Security benefits by basing cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) on an inflation index specifically for seniors. Under current law, COLAs are based on the way young, urban workers spend their money. .TSCL will be watching closely for the expected executive orders and we will report on them in our legislative update that follows the release of the orders. … Continued

  • Legislative Update Week Ending July 8 2016

    The study found that a person who retired in 2000 — with an average Social Security benefit of 6 per month — would have ,246.20 per month by 2020. However, because retiree costs are rising at a substantially faster pace than the COLA, that individual would require a Social Security benefit of 0.00 more per month, or a total of ,626.20 in 2020, just to maintain his or her 2000 level of buying power. .The TSCL report which contains Social Security Administration (SSA) data from 1937 through 2013, includes the following findings: .The House of Representatives did pass the needed legislation last week so now it moves to the Senate, where passage is not certain. That's because the Senate is equally divided 50-50 and no Republicans said they would support President Biden's Covid relief bill, which resulted in a 50-50 vote on the legislation. … Continued

It remains to be seen whether or not lawmakers in the Senate will reach an agreement before the midnight deadline. If not, the federal government will shut down like it did back in 201While not likely, an extended government shutdown could result in negative impacts for Social Security beneficiaries and doctors who treat Medicare patients. .Nutritious food through the Supplemental Nutrition Program (SNAP). .And third, one new cosponsor – Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) – signed on to the Social Security 2100 Act (S. 2671), bringing the cosponsor total to two. If adopted, S. 2671 would comprehensively strengthen and reform the Social Security program by basing COLAs on the CPI-E, increasing monthly benefits by 2%, creating a new Special Minimum Benefit equal to 125% of the poverty line, providing a tax cut to Social Security beneficiaries, applying the payroll tax to annual income over 0,000, and gradually increasing the payroll tax rate by 0.25%. .To make the Social Security COLA more adequate, The Senior Citizens League believes Congress must adopt the CPI-E Act (H.R. 1251). This bipartisan bill would base Social Security COLAs on the spending patterns of older Americans – not the spending patterns of young, working Americans – using the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E). .Sources: "Crackdown Proposed To Prevent Illegal Immigrants From Obtaining Medicare," Robert Pear, The New York Times, March 3, 201"Medicare Improperly Paid Providers Millions Of Dollars For Unlawfully Present Beneficiaries," Daniel R. Levinson, Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General January 2013. .Under current law, the Medicare program is prohibited from negotiating prices with pharmaceutical companies despite the fact that other federal health programs are required to do so. As a result, older Americans enrolled in Part D often pay much higher prices than other American consumers for their prescription drugs. If adopted, this bill would lead to billions of dollars in savings for the Medicare program, and it would immediately reduce prescription drug prices for Medicare Part D beneficiaries. .To help with your planning process, TSCL has pulled together a number of resources that can help. Visit TSCL's Retirement Resource Center. .The Senior Citizens League enthusiastically supports the two bills mentioned above, and we were pleased to see support grow for them this week. For more information about these and other bills that have been backed by The Senior Citizens League, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website. .According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), wages are growing faster for people who earn more than the Social Security taxable maximum than for people earning less. The CBO projects that this unequal growth in earnings will cause a decline in revenues received by the Social Security Trust Fund over the next decade.