for a Worker With Average Earnings, Retiring at Age 65 .The poll, which was conducted in September and October of this year, during the debt limit budget standoff, found that respondents voted higher and more fair COLAs as an even greater priority than "Preventing 20% Social Security Disability Insurance benefit cut" or "increases in Medicare premiums and cost-sharing"— two provisions which were passed in the recent debt deal. .The legislative proposal also does not specify whether the locality pay adjustment would be applied in addition to the COLA or used instead of a COLA. If the intention is to add a second adjustment in addition to the COLA my guess is that many retirees would welcome the additional boost. Should the proposal be intended to replace the COLA that brings a higher level of uncertainty to the annual adjustments than we already experience. For people who live in areas where private sector pay is on an even level with federal pay or lower, those retirees may wind up with little or no locality pay adjustment, perhaps over the course of many years. .First, the bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act (S. 521, H.R. 141) gained eight new cosponsors in the Senate and the House, bringing the cosponsor totals up to thirty and 165, respectively. The new cosponsors are: Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA), Senator Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Representative Sean Casten (IL-6), Representative Susan Davis (CA-53), Representative Elaine Luria (VA-2), Representative Colin Allred (TX-32), Representative Ed Case (HI-1), and Representative Filemon Vela (TX-34). .This week, TSCL delivered letters to several leaders in Congress – including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY), House Speaker Paul Ryan (WI-1), and House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (NC-11) – urging immediate action on the looming debt ceiling crisis. .Totalization Agreement .In some hard-hit states, inspectors conducted remote surveys rather than going into nursing homes, a process that involved speaking to staff by phone and reviewing records. In Pennsylvania, for example, inspectors conducted interviews and reviewed documents for 657 facilities from March 13 to May 15 — most of which was done remotely. .That said, the SSDI program paid .2 billion in benefits to ineligible people in FY2012 according to the Social Security Administration's Office of the Inspector General. And skyrocketing enrollment is putting added financial strains on the program. Both the Social Security Trustees and the Congressional Budget Office have recently forecast that the SSDI trust fund will become fully depleted in three years. When that occurs, program revenues will only be sufficient to pay about 80% of benefits. Unless Congress takes action, severely disabled beneficiaries would face benefit cuts of 20%. .Despite the efforts of TSCL and others, knowledge of the U.S – Mexico Totalization Agreement remains limited on Capitol Hill, and the issue flies under radar for the most part. TSCL has expressed its support for resolutions in opposition to the totalization agreement. In addition, TSCL is supportive of legislation, such as the Social Security Totalization Agreement Reform Act, which would grant more time for congressional review of these agreements. TSCL also supports loophole-closing legislation which would prevent individuals who worked in the U.S. while illegal from receiving credit for that work for purposes of Social Security benefit calculations.