We at TSCL are not doctors or scientists. But with all the different voices being heard about what the right thing is to do or not to do, what we do urge you to be is very cautious. It makes sense to us to listen to the trained professionals in medical and scientific fields as we deal with our current health care situation. .By Congressman Peter Roskam (IL-06) .Unlike AARP, The Senior Citizens League is a true grassroots organization. Almost one hundred percent of our revenue comes from individual donations, and we do not sell any products to our members. We even refuse outside advertising in our materials. Our sole focus is on education and protection of the Social Security and Medicare benefits senior citizens have earned and paid for. .It's true that public opinion can sway votes in Congress, especially during a critical election year like this one. TSCL strongly believes that grassroots lobbying is the most effective way for the public to communicate with elected Members of Congress. Our members spoke loudly and clearly when they signed more than 1.5 million petitions, and many Congressional offices met our deliveries with surprise and gratitude. We look forward to partnering with many of those offices in the future to ensure that Congress lives up to the commitments it has made to seniors. .Mary Johnson .So far, many accomplishments have made the first session of the 113th Congress a memorable one for TSCL. To read more about our latest efforts, check out our Legislative Updates. .(Washington, DC) – The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) is calling on Congressional leadership to lift the federal budget debt ceiling and prevent a default on the federal debt — including the debt held by the Social Security Trust Fund. "Congressional inaction on the debt ceiling is a growing concern, " said TSCL in a letter to House and Senate budget leaders. "In prior debates to lift the debt ceiling, Social Security benefits have been used as a bargaining chip, and retirees have seen unexpected benefit cuts," the letter states. .This is precisely what happened to Notch Babies. In 1977, Congress did not have the same benefit of computer software that so quickly does the projections and estimates that we have today. But even if Congress had developed examples illustrating benefit differentials among different categories of receipients "they would not have shown as great differentials as actually developed," said a paper written by James W. Kelly and Joseph R. Humphreys, that appeared in the 1994 report of The Social Security Notch Commission. Some reductions of 10% to 14% would have been anticipated at the time, but because inflation grew much more quickly than estimated, and wages grew much more slowly, benefits were reduced 13% — 30% for Notch Babies under actual conditions. .Nearly 50 years ago, we made a promise to ensure quality, affordable healthcare for all American seniors. In order to protect that promise, we must promote excellence and efficiency in Medicare, while being more fiscally responsible. One of the most important ways we can achieve those critical goals is to fix the broken Medicare physician payment system, which has created uncertainty and instability for seniors, healthcare providers, and the federal budget for decades. Because of the failed physician payment system, there is a looming crisis facing seniors and the doctors who care for them: on January 1, 2013 doctors could be hit with a scheduled reduction in Medicare payments of more than 30 percent.