Employment and average earnings information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicate that average wages were down about 4.4% in 2020. But BLS wage data can vary from the final wage data that employers report to the Social Security Administration. Adjusting for the difference, the AWI for 2020 may drop only slightly, by roughly 0.65 percentage point. We are closely watching for the new AWI for 2020 from the Social Security Administration, but that final number won't be known until the end of the year. .A huge inconsistency between U.S. immigration law and Social Security threatens to undermine the income security of millions of U.S. senior citizens and the disabled. In 2004 Congress passed legislation requiring immigrants to have work authorization at the time a Social Security number is assigned or at some later time, in order to become entitled under Social Security.(1) Therefore, immigrants who obtain authorization to work in this country may eventually claim benefits based on all earnings. .This higher starting benefit will mean higher cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) in terms of dollars, and higher benefits for spouses and survivors that are based on your benefit. Over the course of a 25 year retirement, the extra money adds up to more income from Social Security, often in the tens of thousands of dollars depending on the age you retire. .This week, one Member of Congress introduced legislation that could make the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) a more accurate measure of inflation. In addition, The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) saw support grow for two key bills. .It will also amend existing law to allow the Secretary of Agriculture and the Commissioner of Social Security (SSA) to administer Combined Application Projects (CAP) in at least 10 additional states, which will streamline application procedures for SSI and SNAP. Seventeen states currently participate in this program. .Medicaid is the major source of coverage for an estimated 6 million seniors who need long-term care. Last year, long-term care services required one-third of the federal Medicaid budget, more than 0 billion. States, which share the program's cost, spent tens of billions to match that amount. .I worked in a California city police department for 30 years and I'm now entitled to a pension. For the past 8 years, I've also paid into Social Security for self-employment earnings from a small company that I own. My accountant tells me that, in order to qualify for Social Security benefits, I should continue to work at my company and send in in two more years' worth of taxes. Will this be worth it? .The most widely-discussed proposals to revamp Social Security include raising the eligibility age, making the benefit formula less generous, and reducing the Social Security cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs). Reducing COLAs would impact the lifetime Social Security benefits of all current beneficiaries, as well as affecting future retirees. Under discussion is a proposal that would reduce COLAs by switching to a more slowly-growing, "chained" consumer price index to calculate the annual benefit boost. In fact the new tax law, recently did something similar. Indexing of income tax brackets, the standard deduction, and other parameters of the tax code for inflation was tied to a chained COLA. That means that people will pay higher taxes over time, as the standard deduction becomes less generous, while rising income would tend to push older taxpayers into higher brackets. .Today's seniors have spent a lifetime paying into benefit programs like Social Security. They did so under the assumption that those programs' benefits will be there for them when they need them. All too frequently, though, illegal immigrants are reaping benefits without first paying their fair share into the program, and those who paid into Social Security fear that expected benefits will not be available when the time comes.