This week, lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill following a week-long holiday recess. They have just one week to reach a deal to fund most of the federal government past Friday, December 7th. Should they fail to reach an agreement before then, part of the federal government will shut down like it did earlier this year. .The government negotiates prescription drug prices for veterans and Medicaid beneficiaries, but it is barred from negotiating lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries. As a result, seniors enrolled in Part D often pay much higher prices than other Americans for their prescription drugs. What are you doing to correct this unfair policy? .The massive cost of both House and Senate tax bills, estimated to add .5 trillion to the deficit, will trigger automatic spending cuts in 2018 due to language in the Statutory Pay-as-You Go Act of 20The Act, commonly known as "pay-go", prevents legislation from adding too much money to the deficit. Because the .5 trillion cost of the bill is not adequately offset, the Medicare program will see billion in cuts in 2018, and other critical programs like Meals on Wheels would see their budgets slashed. Lawmakers have said they will pass legislation early next year to avert these cuts, but that remains uncertain. .The billion could be financed without taking money from the Social Security Trust Fund. One way is through reduction of pork barrel spending and government waste. In the fiscal year 2001 budget alone, pork "watch-dog" Senator John McCain (AZ-R) estimated that the government would spend a record billion in pork-barrel projects. .But lower COLAs and changes that would increase seniors' Medicare costs still remain key targets of plans to lower federal spending. Late last year, the budget conference committee responsible for heading off another government shutdown heard deficit reduction options from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Among those having the biggest impact on reducing government spending are proposals to increase deductibles and co-insurance for Medicare — cutting federal spending about 4 billion. In addition, moving to using the more slowly-growing chained CPI to determine COLAs would cut government spending by an estimated 8.5 billion on Social Security and other federal benefit programs, like military retirement, through 2023. .What is likely to happen if the test is not done? .The first few months of this year were spent encouraging lawmakers to re-introduce critical legislation. So far, TSCL's most vital bills have been re-introduced, including the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers (CPI-E) Act, the Notch Fairness Act, the Social Security Fairness Act, and the Medicare Physician Payment Innovation Act. More recently, TSCL's focus has shifted to building support for these and other bills, and already, many legislators have signed on to them as co-sponsors. .The goal is to prevent fraud and combat identity theft by removing the Social Security numbers. Fraud And Abuse Are Costing Medicare — (And You Too!) The federal government made more than billion in erroneous payments to Medicare Advantage health plans last year. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently testified that nearly 10% of payments to Medicare Advantage plans were improper. Those improper payments are driving up costs not only for Medicare, but also for every person in Medicare Part B. Government To Issue New Medicare Cards Watch Out For Scams! .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."