What you can do: Contact your Members of Congress and tell them that cutting the COLA to reduce the deficit is unacceptable. To provide income seniors can rely on over a retirement, COLAs needs to keep up with rising costs, something they don't do well enough now. .Normally it would seem logical that a bi-partisan bill would have a very good chance of passing in the Senate, but these are not normal times. In fact, four of the five Republican Senators whose offices we visited this week, and who are on the Finance Committee, voted against their own chairman's bill. The five Senate offices we met with were Scott (SC), Thune (SD), Toomey (PA), Alexander (TN), and Burr (NC). We picked these Senators because all are members of at least one of the committees that any bill to lower drug costs would have to go through. .Last year the House of Representatives passed major legislation to lower drug prices that included giving the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) the authority to negotiate for lower drug prices with drug companies. .For Medicare Advantage enrollees whose physicians are dropped, this means one of three things. They will either have to scramble to find a new doctor, pay more to see their out-of-network doctor, or switch to a Medicare Advantage plan with a better network of providers. Seniors who did not choose the third option last fall will have to wait until October – the start of Medicare's open enrollment period – to find a new plan. .Similarly, Sen. Mike Lee (UT) wrote in a statement: "The Fifth Circuit should be commended for its well-reasoned decision to prevent President Obama from implementing his lawless executive amnesty program. Our immigration system is in desperate need of reform. But that reform must be agreed to and passed by Congress, not unilaterally imposed on the American people by the executive branch." .Third, one new cosponsor, Representative Jamie Raskin (MD-8), signed on to the bipartisan Fair COLA for Seniors Act (H.R. 1553), bringing the total up to twenty-seven. If adopted, this bill would better protect the purchasing power of Social Security benefits by adopting a more adequate Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Under current law, COLAs underestimate the inflation seniors experience because they are based on the way young, working Americans spend their money. As a result, Social Security benefits have lost 33 percent of their purchasing power since 2000 according to our research. .What Happened To My Higher Retirement Benefit? .Many in Congress have been outspoken about the potential cuts. Last week, a bipartisan group of forty Senators sent a letter to CMS urging administrators to maintain current payment rates in order to protect seniors from potential benefit disruptions. TSCL has also been expressing its concerns to lawmakers, and we will continue to keep a close eye on the issue in the coming weeks. For updates, visit the Legislative News section of our website. ."Because earnings are used to determine entitlement, the portion of earnings from jobs worked prior to legal authorization poses a substantial long-term liability to the Social Security Trust Fund," Cates says. In order to improve Social Security solvency, Congress is expected to consider cutting Social Security benefits, perhaps significantly, at some point in the future. "This policy that ‘pays benefits based on work while in the country illegally raises questions as to whether individuals who worked without authorization and committed document fraud will benefit at the expense of others who paid in under valid SSNs," Cates notes.