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Representatives Call for Notch Reform Her Social Security check is $800 a month. With a monthly prescription drug bill of $400 and mortgage payment of $560 however, Sandra Regina, an 84-year-old Notch Baby must take out bank loans just to make ends meet. `I`m one of the lucky ones,` she says. Her brother Michael, also a Notch Baby, lives on an oxygen tank. Her Notch Baby sister, Camille, still works full-time to make the rent. A member of TREA Senior Citizens League (TSCL), Regina recently told her story at a Capitol Hill press conference spotlighting the urgency of the plight of the `Notch Babies.` Representative Ralph Hall (D-TX) with Robert Wexler (D-FL) joined by Robert Aderholt (R-AL) called upon President Bush and Congress to make comprehensive Social Security reform a priority this year and to seek a remedy to the `Notch` problem. `This issue is extremely sensitive and timely, considering the advanced age of the Notch seniors,` Hall said. `If we delay action, many will likely never receive just compensation for the sacrifices they made to help save Social Security when it almost collapsed in the late 1970s.` Hall and Wexler have introduced a pair of bills, called `The Notch Fairness Act,` which would allow those born from 1917 through 1926, their choice of an improved monthly benefit or a Lump-Sum of $5,000 payable in four annual installments. There are 74 co-sponsors to date. The legislation is actively supported and lobbied for by TSCL. Said Wexler, `Notch victims are the men and women who served in our armed forces during World War II and Korea, and provided the foundation for the strong, vibrant nation we are today. We must now fulfill our responsibility by restoring the benefits which they have been denied for over twenty years. But time is critical; we must act now.` To see photos of the press conference and other TSCL events, click on the following link: `Photo Scrap Book`
If you found this article on Notch Reform interesting, you may also like to visit the Notch Reform section on our www.TSCL.org website. Click the link below to go there. (http://www.tscl.org/NotchReform.asp)
This article first appeared in Volume 6, Issue 7 of "The Social Security and Medicare Advisor" newsletter (June/2001). To receive future editions of "The Advisor" in its special, free e-mail version, please click here.
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