Congress made a big deal over "No Budget No Pay" earlier this year. But what happened since? Was a budget ever passed? Is Congress getting a paycheck this year?.In 2017, the Social Security retirement and disability trust funds are due to receive an estimated billion in "interest payments" on those I.O.U.s. Because that money is not real cash, it must be borrowed, setting up a fractious debate in Congress - between those who say that benefits must be cut to make the program more sustainable, and others who say that Social Security payroll taxes are not equitable because the highest paid workers are not paying their fair share of taxes..A new Medicare Advantage plan is available in my area and the premiums are extremely low. It would save me a lot of money this year, so I'm thinking about dropping my Medigap and Part D plan to enroll in the new Medicare Advantage Plan during the fall Open Enrollment period. Can you explain the pros and cons of doing this?."My brother ran a restaurant in Springfield, and he said the most lucrative part of their business was the private room that was reserved by pharmaceutical companies four nights a week," McCaskill said. "The wine consumed was unbelievably expensive, the dinners were unbelievably expensive. Now, I've got to tell you I don't think that most Americans think that's about patients first. That's about lobbying.".Upon introducing the bill, Rep. Schiff said, "We must work to ensure that public employees, just like retirees who have private pensions, receive the full Social Security benefits to which they are entitled. We have a responsibility to our educators, police officers, and fire fighters to act now to repeal these inequitable provisions, and ensure that hard work for the public good is justly compensated, even in retirement.".Based on your current age, your full retirement age is 6That's the age when you can retire and receive the full, unreduced amount of your benefits. If you start benefits at age 64 your benefit will be reduced 20%. For example if you are eligible for ,200 at age 66 you would only receive 0 per month at age 64..This may be difficult to believe, but consumer price index data suggests that the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2020 could be close to zero next year - a mere 0.5 percentage point. This comes even as the costs of goods and services used by retirees are shooting upward according to responses to TSCL's 2019 Senior Survey..Then on Monday there was a report that Congressional negotiators were closing in on a government spending bill agreement after keeping the funding for Veterans Affairs Mission Act under the .4 trillion budget cap, a significant victory for the House Republicans who insisted on this provision, according to two congressional aides..This week, one new cosponsor Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan signed on to the Social Security 2100 Act, bringing the total up to 16If signed into law, it would extend the solvency of the Social Security trust funds responsibly, without cutting benefits for current or future retirees. The bill currently has more cosponsors than any other comprehensive Social Security reform bill to date, and we hope lawmakers in Congress will consider it seriously in the months ahead.