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On Tuesday, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education approved a 6.8 billion fiscal 2015 spending bill by a voice vote. The bill provides funding to a wide range of health and education programs, and it also covers the administrative expenses of Social Security and Medicare. The Labor-HHS-Education bill is the largest domestic appropriations bill, accounting for nearly one-third of all non-defense discretionary spending..Experts said the long-term effects of the virus on doctors and Medicare remain unknown. But the shortage of cash that many doctors are experiencing because of the coronavirus epidemic has revealed the shortcomings of how primary care doctors are paid..In addition, three new cosponsors Reps. Beto O'Rourke, Ralph Hall, and Brad Sherman signed on to the Social Security Fairness Act this week, bringing the total up to ninety-eight. If signed into law, the bill would repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision two provisions that unfairly reduce the earned Social Security benefits of millions of state and local government employees each year..I've read about proposals to "expand" Social Security that would provide somewhat higher benefits and a better cost-of-living adjustment. How can Social Security be expanded when the program is running out of money?.The Joint Committee of Taxation estimates this option would increase revenues, in other words, raise your taxes, by 1 billion from 2019 through 202The increase would be even greater after the temporary provisions of the 2017 tax legislation, that lowered rates and increased the standard deduction, expire at the end of 2025..He said, "We have to work to do more to ensure that every older American has the resources and the support that they need to thrive. That challenge protecting our seniors, dealing with the rising costs of an aging generation, ensuring we have enough home care workers looking out for our family members, maximizing the contributions that older Americans can make to our country these challenges are just becoming more urgent.".The Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset were included in the Social Security Act of 1983 to help shore up the Social Security program. I believe this has done little to secure the program and, instead, unfairly reduces the Social Security benefits of millions of public employees. Earlier this year, I reintroduced legislation, H.R. 973, the Social Security Fairness Act, to repeal these arcane policies..Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, it was my understanding that the 3.8% tax on net investment income was intended to fund the Medicare Part A Trust Fund, in much the same way a portion of the taxes on Social Security benefits are earmarked for the Part A Trust Fund.."This survey illustrates why budget proposals that would cut the growth of COLAs would put millions of older and disabled Americans at risk of insufficient income to cover more growing expenses," says Larry Hyland, TSCL chairman. "To put it in perspective, for every 0 worth of expenses seniors could afford in 2000, they can afford just today." Hyland adds.