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First, the Social Security 2100 Act gained one new cosponsor in Representative Diana DeGette, bringing the cosponsor total to 17If signed into law, H.R. 1902 would strengthen Social Security benefits by make cost-of-living adjustments more adequate, increasing monthly benefits by 2%, creating a new Special Minimum Benefit equal to 125% of the poverty line, providing a tax cut to Social Security beneficiaries, applying the payroll tax to annual income over 0,000, and gradually increasing the payroll tax rate by 0.25%..This week, lawmakers in the House and Senate remained in their home states and districts for the week-long holiday recess..That is why TSCL so strongly opposes the President's proposal. True, it would be a boost for those now employed. But it will do nothing for those who are unemployed, and those are the people who need the most help right now. There are other ways to aid them, as well as to help the currently employed..Action on Capitol Hill remained slow this week, as both Houses of Congress have adjourned for the August recess. However, The Senior Citizens League did see support grow for two key pieces of legislation..Although there's a new higher standard deduction for U.S. taxpayers this year, tax professionals are cautioning taxpayers against automatically taking it. The 2017 tax legislation retains the deduction for medical expenses. This year, taxpayers can deduct medical expenses exceeding 7.5% of their Adjusted Gross Income, but that threshold will rise to 10% of the AGI in 2019, so taxpayers won't be able to deduct as much. It would be a good idea to crunch the numbers now, to learn if itemizing and the medical expense deduction would reduce your taxes..Rep. Bill Pascrell has urged President Biden to fire the entire USPS Board of Governors. "The continued challenges in preserving our Postal Service to survive and endure are gargantuan, and so demand bold solutions to meet them. To begin that work, we must have a governing body that can be trusted to represent the public interest," Pascrell wrote..More than 5 million Social Security recipients with the lowest benefits are unlikely to see any net growth in their monthly checks after deduction of the Medicare Part B premium in 2019, according to a new analysis released by The Senior Citizens League. This will occur despite their receiving the highest cost-of-living adjustment in seven years. Those affected have a gross Social Security benefit of about 5 per month or less before deduction of the Part B premium. According to the analysis, the dollar amount of their Part B premium increase will be more than the dollar amount of their COLA. "This would make the fourth year in a row that this particular group has not seen a boost in their net Social Security benefits after the deduction for Medicare Part B premiums," says Mary Johnson, a Social Security and Medicare policy analyst for the League.\.adequate income, especially if you live to your 80's or 90's..Nevertheless, Senate Leader Harry Reid recently went as far as to imply that people like me are lying, saying that "There are plenty of horror stories being told. All of them are untrue, but they're being told all over America." But I'm not making this up. I take this information directly from the government's own website.