By Mike Watson, TSCL Legislative Assistant .Finally, two cosponsors also signed on to the Social Security Fairness Act (S. 896 and H.R. 1795) this week, bringing the total up to eleven in the Senate and eighty-five in the House. The new cosponsors are Sen. Bernard Sanders (VT) and Rep. Alan Lowenthal (CA-47). If signed into law, H.R. 1795 would repeal two provisions of the Social Security Act that unfairly reduce the earned benefits of millions of state and local government employees each year. The provisions – the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset – prevent dedicated public servants from receiving the retirement security they have earned. .The study, which examined price changes from January of 2019 to January of this year found that, since 2000, the buying power of Social Security benefits improved 3 percentage points— from a loss of 33 percent as of 2019 to 30 percent in 2020. Between January of 2000 and January of 2020, Social Security COLAs increased Social Security benefits by 53 percent, but the costs of goods and services purchased by typical retirees rose almost twice as much — 99.3 percent. Medicare premiums and out-of-pocket costs, housing, and homeowner's insurance were among the most rapidly - rising costs over the past year. .On Thursday, TSCL held its first ever town hall meeting with great success in North Carolina's 11th Congressional District. TSCL would like to thank Congressional Candidate Mark Meadows for taking time out of his busy schedule to address concerned members and supporters. .Source: "Analysis of Plan 2 of The President's Commission on Social Security," Congressional Budget Office, July 21, 2004. .It's hard to say until you crunch the numbers. You may qualify for Social Security benefits with as little as ten years of work through your self-employment. But even if you do, you will be subject to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) which reduces Social Security benefits when you receive a pension based on non-covered government employment. .These laws affect state or local government workers in twenty-six states and teachers in fifteen states, because their employers do not withhold Social Security taxes from their salaries. The GPO affects public servants who are entitled to Social Security spousal or survivors benefits based on the work history of a husband or wife. Often, the benefits to which they are entitled are eliminated altogether. The WEP affects those public servants who have earned pensions from their state or local government, but have also paid into Social Security through previous employment. Their earned Social Security benefits are often unfairly reduced by one-half or more. .Call your plan's mail-order service and compare the prescription costs, including any shipping. Often you can get a three-month supply of your prescription by mail for less money than you would pay for a one-or two-month supply purchased at a standard retail pharmacy, and pay nothing for shipping. But using mail order requires advance planning on your part because you need to allow up to two weeks for delivery. .As the Representative for Indiana's Seventh Congressional District, I have had the opportunity to meet and talk with many seniors during my Medicare forums. These seniors have uniformly shared concern that they will bear the lion's share of the burden of Congress' failure to come to a constructive resolution on our nation's debt. As cuts to Medicare and Social Security have been put on the table, seniors are wondering whether their health or their standard of living is in jeopardy. In this difficult economic climate, we must ensure that changes to either of these programs do not deprive seniors of the ability to fend for themselves.