News

To address the growing issue of inaccurate COLAs, TSCL believes Congress must adopt the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers Act. This bipartisan bill from Congressman John Garamendi would better protect the purchasing power of Social Security benefits by basing the COLA on the spending patterns of retirees..For more information about town hall meetings near you during next week's recess, click HERE. You can also call the local offices of your Members of Congress to request information about upcoming town halls. For contact information, click HERE..According to the most recent Social Security Trustees report, Social Security already pays out more in benefits than it receives in payroll taxes. In 2019, Social Security paid ,047.9 billion in benefits versus receiving 4.5 billion in payroll tax revenues. Taxation of the benefits of retirees provides another .5 billion in revenues, and .8 billion is money from "interest" earned by the assets of the Social Security Trust funds, special non-marketable bonds. Social Security trustees forecast that the program will be depleted by 2035..The Social Security Trustees recently projected that the Disability Insurance Trust Fund will be fully depleted by 201If the next Congress takes no action to address the matter, payroll taxes will only be sufficient to cover about 80 percent of benefits after Trust Fund depletion. While Congress has never permitted a trust fund to run out before, time is short to make what's likely to be difficult long-term changes. "The longer lawmakers wait at this point, the greater the chances of a funding crisis and benefit cuts," Cates says..Addressing prescription drug prices is also one of my top priorities as Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. The Committee launched a comprehensive investigation of the prescription drug industry's pricing practices in January of this year, focusing on the drugs that are the costliest to Medicare. In January I convened the Committee's first hearing of the 116th Congress on this topic, inviting AARP's National Volunteer President to testify about the challenges seniors face in affording their drugs..We tell more about all of those below..Back in mid-August we reported on President Trump's executive order to stop the collection of the workers' part of the Payroll tax, which funds Social Security and Medicare. TSCL is opposed of Payroll tax cuts of any kind because they seriously jeopardize the financial viability of both Social Security and Medicare..To determine if a portion of the taxpayer's Social Security benefits are taxable, half of Social Security benefits are added to the adjusted gross income, plus any tax - exempt interest, and certain other tax - exempt income. "Few people today think of an adjusted gross income of as little as ,000 -,000 as 'substantial' income," Johnson says. To calculate the taxable portion of benefits, taxpayers can find a worksheet in IRS publication 915.."'The Senate's immediate role is clear: we need to support the federal, state, and local public health officials and healthcare professionals who are working overtime to blunt, delay, and mitigate the spread of the virus,' McConnell said. 'The American people deserve for their Congress to meet this subject head on.'"