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This week, one new cosponsor Rep. Matt Cartwright signed on to Rep. Peter DeFazio's No Loopholes in Social Security Taxes Act. The cosponsor total is now up to twenty-seven. If signed into law, Rep. DeFazio's bill would subject all income over 0,000 to the Social Security payroll tax. Currently, the payroll tax is capped at 3,700 and no income over that amount is taxed. H.R. 1029 would reportedly add another fifty years to the solvency of the Trust Fund in a responsible way, without reducing benefits for seniors..You are age 62 or older;.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House Republicans who insisted on this provision, according to two congressional aides..CLASS Program Closer to Being Repealed.If you find yourself in the situation where it's getting difficult to afford your prescriptions, Medicare has a program known as "Extra Help," that pays for some or even most of your out-of-pocket drug costs. You qualify if your monthly income is less than ,538 for individuals or ,078 for couples, and your assets are lower than the specified amount :.The CBO option would change the taxation of Social Security to be more like distributions from defined benefit pension plans. Those distributions are fully taxable except for the portion that represents the recovery of "basis," or what an employee paid in - that is, his or her after-tax contributions to the plan. Once the recipient has recovered his or her entire "basis" all subsequent pension distributions are fully taxed..Preventing benefit cuts. Older Americans understand the compounding effect that even the smallest benefit cut can have over the course of several years. DI beneficiaries living on fixed incomes simply cannot afford a reduction in benefits..In most years, seniors receive a small increase in their Social Security checks, intended to help them keep up with rising costs. But since 2000, the Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment has increased benefits just 38 percent while typical senior expenses have jumped 81 percent, more than twice as fast. Inflation has been at historic lows in recent years and seniors received a 1.7 percent COLA this year..If your year has been like mine, you've had a number of Medicare aggravations during which you promised yourself to look into different health and drug plan options at your first opportunity. Medicare's Fall Open Enrollment is underway, and this is your opportunity to compare plans make changes to your coverage.