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On Tuesday, after five days of debate, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the "Gang of Eight's" comprehensive immigration reform bill by a vote of thirteen to five. If signed into law, the bill would provide more than 11 million immigrants with a path to citizenship. A number of amendments were adopted by the Senate Committee members, but TSCL was disappointed that they failed to approve an amendment that would have prevented immigrants from earning Social Security credits based on work completed while in the country illegally. Sen. Orrin Hatch sponsored the amendment, and while he ultimately voted in favor of advancing the bill, he did state that it "needs more improvement" before he would consider supporting it on the Senate floor..Here's a theoretical one: Let's say the undocumented immigrant parents of four U.S. -born children have lived in the U.S. for twelve years and are found eligible for work authorization and Social Security numbers. Prior to getting her Social Security number, the mother worked as a housekeeper and was paid in cash. No taxes were paid into Social Security or Medicare. Because none were paid, and no wages were reported, the mother does not have any Social Security coverage yet..The first day of each month - when big payments go out for Medicare reimbursements, military salaries, veterans' benefits, pensions for military and civilian federal employees and more - is particularly bad. The third day of each month and Wednesdays, when Social Security benefits go out, aren't great either. Interest payments to Treasury's creditors go out on the 15th and at the end of each month of beginning of the next..Ideally the Obama Administration should have the capacity to update consumers' subsidy information. But by late summer, they had not yet gotten that part of the system built. Even if you were to receive the same amount of premium subsidy that you received this year, that's likely to cause you problems. Here's why:.Action on Capitol Hill remained slow this week, as both Houses of Congress have adjourned for the August recess. However, The Senior Citizens League did see support grow for two key pieces of legislation..Your wife can sign up, when she's first eligible, during the 7-month period that begins 3 months before the month she turns 65 and ends 3 months after the month she turns 65..We believe that given the complexity of the new program, seniors who need insulin would be wise to enlist the assistance of a trained counselor before switching to such a plan to ensure they aren't giving up better coverage in other ways. This is particularly true if they are now in a Medigap plan and considering moving to a Medicare Advantage plan..On Wednesday, the Senate Special Committee on Aging convened to hold a hearing titled "Stopping Senior Scams." At the hearing, members of the committee released this year's Fraud Book, which details the ten most common scams reported to the committee's fraud hotline. In 2017, the hotline received calls from more than 1,400 seniors who were the victims of robocalls, lottery scams, grandparent scams, and romance scams, among many others..Second, Concentrating on High-value Alzheimer's Needs to Get to an End Act of 2018 ​ gained one new cosponsor this week in Senator Chris Van Hollen. The cosponsor total is now up to four. If adopted, S. 2387 would direct the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to create programs that would promote early identification of Alzheimer's disease, improve support for family caregivers, and provide continuous care for those battling many forms of dementia.