The battle between spending cuts versus revenue increases continues to be the largest point of contention between the two sides. Democrats are pushing a one-to-one ratio, contending that Congress has already outlined enough spending cuts in the debt limit increase law. If the Super Committee cannot come to a compromise by the deadline, mandated across-the-board budget cuts will occur. .Rep. McIntyre has consistently cosponsored the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers (CPI-E) Act, a bill that would provide seniors with a more fair and accurate Social Security cost-of-living adjustment. He has also cosponsored legislation that would close a Social Security loophole that allows non-citizens to become entitled to Social Security benefits for work done illegally. Finally, Rep. McIntyre introduced the Notch Fairness Act in 2011, a bill that would provide those born between the years 1917 and 1926 with modest compensation for the lower Social Security benefits that they tend to receive. .TSCL believes that Congress should strengthen Social Security's protections by enacting legislation to prohibit the use of unauthorized earnings from being counted toward eligibility for Social Security benefits, "a change that should be made regardless of the outcome of the Supreme Court decision or whether Congress moves on immigration or Social Security reform," Cates says. .Medicare investigations returned for every dollar invested in recent years. Let's tell Congress to stop being so "penny wise and pound foolish." Sequester cuts are like writing a blank check for crooks, and have no place in Medicare fraud control programs. Ask your Member of Congress to cosponsor The PRIME Act (H.R. 2305) and (S.1123.) .The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation have boosted previous estimates and now say that switching to the chained consumer price index (C-CPI) will cut Social Security and other federal retirement benefits by 8 billion and increase taxes by 2 billion over the next 10 years. The loss to beneficiaries would compound over time and grows deeper each year as illustrated in the following chart. As seniors grow older and more likely to develop costly health conditions, their Social Security benefits would become less adequate to cover rising costs more quickly. .In fact, when the COLA increases since 2000 are compared with the typical cost increases that retirees experienced over the same period, Social Security benefits have lost 34% of their buying power. COLAs increased benefits a total of 46 percent, while typical senior expenses have jumped 96.3 percent between 2000 through the first week of 201To put it in perspective, for every 0 worth of groceries a retiree household could afford in 2000, they can only buy worth today. .For example, one Maine resident worked in the private sector, paying into Social Security for fifteen years before she returned to the teaching profession. Her earned Social Security benefits would have totaled 0 a month. However, due to the WEP, she receives only 0 each month from the program. She is also unable to collect Social Security spousal benefits due to the GPO, even though her spouse paid into the system throughout his entire career. In retirement, she must rely almost entirely upon her teaching pension, which is modest since she spent only a decade in the profession. She told the National Education Association, "If I had known the severe financial penalty I was to pay for returning to teaching, I don't think I would have done it." .This year, The Senior Citizens League has heard from supporters like never before about some extreme costs of prescription drugs. One supporter told us she pays ,800 for a three-month supply of insulin as a type 2 diabetic. She said: "I do not have that kind of money! My doctor has been giving me samples to keep me afloat but I cannot expect him to do that forever … I will have to sell my house to pay for insulin." .Affordable Care Act – Monitor the continued implementation of the law as it affects older Americans.