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According to Senator Thune, there is likely to be another major bill providing more money for businesses and others to keep the economy afloat. However, that may not happen until later in June or sometime in July. Obviously, that will use up time that would otherwise have been spent dealing with the other important issues Congress must address..Effective since 1977, the GPO prohibits retired spouses, widows, and widowers from receiving the full benefits based on his or her spouse's employment. The WEP was passed in 1983 and reduces the benefit of a retired or disabled worker who also receives a federal, state or local government annuity based on his or her earnings by up to 60 percent..We are pleased and grateful that Rep. Grace Meng has once again introduced legislation, H.R. 3839, to remedy this situation. It would allow workers who reach age 65 after 1981 and before 1992 to choose either lump sum payments over four years totaling ,000 or an improved benefit computation formula under a new 10-year rule governing the transition to the changes in benefit computation rules enacted in the Social Security Amendments of 1977..Open enrollment for the exchanges begins October 1, 2013 for coverage starting January 1, 201To learn more, visit the new website. To get an idea about whether you qualify for a government subsidy visit the Kaiser Family Foundation's Subsidy Calculator..Legislation introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders and a similar bill introduced by Representative John Larson would provide a boost in Social Security benefits by about to for most recipients, would increase cost of living adjustments by basing the increase on the CPI-E. It would pay for the expanded benefits and restore long - term solvency to the program by making the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share of taxes. Under current law those earning more than 8,500 pay nothing on earnings over that amount..If it weren't for the coronavirus and the start of the vaccination program against it the top news story would probably be the fact that Congress still can't reach a final agreement to keep the government from shutting down. As we indicated in last week's update, they had to pass another one-week Continuing Resolution last Friday in order to give them more time to try and pass the needed legislation..We hope this has been a little helpful to you. Certainly, we all need to follow the recommendations of our own doctors and the advice from public health officials about taking commonsense precautions as we go about our daily lives..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..On Wednesday, Congressman Jimmy Duncan introduced the CPI for Seniors Act, and TSCL announced its support for it shortly thereafter. The bill, if signed into law, would mandate the formulation and publication of a new Consumer Price Index specifically for seniors with the purpose of establishing a more fair and accurate cost-of-living adjustment.