On Thursday, the Ways and Means Committee held a long overdue hearing on the Social Security 2100 Act. The bill was introduced by Congressman John Larson in January of this year. A companion bill was introduced in the Senator by Senator Richard Blumenthal. If adopted these bills would strengthen and reform Social Security by providing beneficiaries with a 2 percent benefit increase, would base the cost-of-living on the CPI-E, create a new minimum benefit set 125 percent of the poverty line and cut taxes for beneficiaries. Increase costs to the program would be paid for my applying the payroll tax to income over 400,000 and gradually increase the payroll tax rate to 7.4 percent..On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy met with four expert witnesses to discuss several options for strengthening the Social Security Program. Chairman Sherrod Brown opened the hearing by saying, "A few years ago … all of the conventional Washington wisdom was that we would have to cut the program. Today, not only are cuts to Social Security deeply unpopular, but we are now debating how much we need to expand the program.".The piece of the law under discussion relates to the way the government subsidizes companies that provide prescription drug coverage to retirees. When Congress created Medicare Part D, it also created an incentive for employers to continue providing prescription drug coverage to their retirees. Under current law, the government subsidizes 28% of the costs that employers incur from providing prescription drug coverage to retirees who are at least 65 and Medicare eligible. The companies that receive the subsidy are then allowed to deduct 100% of the costs of providing coverage to their retirees from their taxes - this deduction also includes the 28% subsidy that the government provides. The new healthcare law keeps the 28% subsidy intact but starting in 2013 it removes the ability of companies in computing their taxes to deduct the subsidy they receive from the government..On Wednesday, Congressman John Garamendi introduced the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers Act at a press conference with several advocates for older Americans, including TSCL. If adopted, his bill would base Social Security COLAs on a more accurate measure of inflation using the CPI-E. Currently, they are based on the way young workers spend their money using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners..This week, lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill to begin the "lame duck" session of Congress. Those in the Senate plus Republicans in the House held leadership elections for the 116th Congress. In the Senate, key leadership positions will remain largely unchanged in 201Senator Mitch McConnell will once again serve as the Senate Majority Leader, while Senator Chuck Schumer will remain the Minority Leader in the 116th Congress..How does divorce affect my Social Security benefits? I'm turning 6My ex - husband had much higher earnings than I did. His benefit is likely to be much higher than mine. He has remarried and is not retired yet. Would it advantageous for me to take a divorced spouse benefit based on his earnings, or better to wait for my own retirement benefit?.The purpose of this update each week is to give our supporters like you information about issues that are important to seniors, but that do not make the headlines. They are usually issues we are working on to ensure our elected officials keep faith with the commitments that were made to each of us during our lifetimes of work, especially concerning Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid..To learn more about important issues affecting seniors, to sign a petition to Congress, or to find contact information or your Members of Congress, please visit the ACTION CENTER of our website..However, for many retirees age 65 and up, most or even all their COLA was offset by rising Medicare premiums and out-of-pocket costs. A recent survey conducted by TSCL found that 48 percent of survey participants reported that, after the deduction for just the Part B premium, their COLA increased their Social Security benefit by less than Another 6 percent of survey respondents reported no increase to their net benefits at all.
