High unemployment during the COVID pandemic of 2020 could cause an estimated 4 million people who were born in 1960 to face permanent reductions to their Social Security benefits, due to a flawed feature of the Social Security benefit formula. Congress can prevent this from happening, but only if it takes action in time. To prevent benefit cuts, Congress may need to enact legislation by the end of this year, before the 1960 birth cohort turns 62 and first become eligible to claim Social Security retirement benefits. .Lawmakers from both the House and Senate remained in their home states and districts this week to continue the month-long August recess. They are expected to return to Washington on September 5th, following the Labor Day holiday. .However, many lawmakers on Capitol Hill were satisfied with the court's ruling. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (VA-6) – Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee – said, "President Obama's executive overreach on immigration poses a clear and present danger to our constitution and I am pleased that the president's actions continue to be halted so that the states' lawsuit can continue to move forward." .In addition, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a federal agency within the legislative branch, does its own forecast of the programs. The CBO produces independent analyses of budgetary and economic issues to support the Congressional budget process. Each year, the agency's economists and budget analysts produce dozens of reports and hundreds of cost estimates for proposed legislation. .Seniors wanting to learn how much a COLA cut would cost in Social Security income should visit the TSCL Chained COLA calculator. .National Emergency Stockpile to be Increased .Regarding Social Security, TSCL was pleased to see that the President's proposal did not include the "chained" CPI, as it did last year. Many in Congress were also relieved by its absence. Shortly after the blueprint was released, Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) – founder of the Defending Social Security Caucus – said, "I am especially proud that the President did not renew his proposal to cut Social Security benefits. With … more people living in poverty than ever before, we cannot afford to make life even more difficult for seniors." .Despite tightening the law, Congress did not fix a policy loophole that would be inadvertently triggered with the passage of comprehensive immigration reform legislation. When determining entitlement for insured status (10 years), and in calculating the initial retirement benefit amount, the Social Security Administration uses all reported earnings from covered employment in the United States, even if the earnings were from illegal or "unauthorized" work. .Do COLAs overpay seniors? Ask TSCL Chairman, Larry Hyland. "The idea is hogwash," he says. "There's simply no evidence that the CPI has overpaid the people who depend on those COLAs to protect the buying power of their benefits. The Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) that surveys the market basket more typical of the majority of Social Security recipients, has shown a significantly greater rise over the CPI used to calculate COLAs through 201The CPI-E would provide a more accurate, and adequate COLA, one more in line with the costs experienced by seniors," Hyland says.