News

Last week a group of 10 moderate Democrats delayed a procedural vote for their party's reconciliation bill, which is the expensive bill containing the President's program to rebuild the U.S. infrastructure. The fear is that some of those same moderates may again band together to blunt the drug-pricing provisions going into the reconciliation package..American consumers have waited too long for Congress to finally make bipartisan progress on lowering prescription drug costs. At a time of rampant hyper-partisanship on Capitol Hill, I've seen glimmers of hope for how lawmakers from across the political spectrum can unite on this issue. We can't stop pushing for lower prices, because our nation's seniors deserve that level of respect, commitment, and urgency..This week, The Senior Citizens League's Board of Trustees traveled to Capitol Hill to host a Welcome Reception and to meet with several lawmakers and their top aides. In addition, Members of the Senate overwhelmingly voted to confirm Marilyn Tavenner as the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and three key bills gained critical support..Junk fees. Is the loan loaded with add-on products, like "GAP" insurance, service contracts, or credit life insurance? These inflate the cost of the vehicle and loan size, as well as the potential loan kick - back for the dealer..In normal political times neither party would allow Medicare to be cut. But because of our current highly partisan times, it would require ten Republicans to join with Democrats to stop the cuts to Medicare with new legislation if reconciliation were used..At the Social Security Subcommittee's hearing, the focus was also on three specific proposals: cutting the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment by adopting the "chained" Consumer Price Index, raising the eligibility age, and increasing the cap on income subject to the payroll tax. Support for each proposal was mixed, and while experts on the panel spoke with a sense of urgency, no real consensus was evident among Members of the Subcommittee..During this presidential election year it's important to let elected lawmakers, the President, and their challengers all know how seniors are affected by the economy and how seniors think those issues should be addressed. To participate in TSCL's 2012 Annual Senior Survey online, visit TSCL at or call to receive a copy of the survey by mail..The coronavirus caused approximately 375,000 deaths and was the third leading cause of death in 2020, after heart disease and cancer. Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. now top 550,000 since the start of the pandemic..After passing The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act late last month, Congressional leaders quickly began selecting conferees to be named on the payroll tax conference committee. The bi-partisan panel will negotiate details beyond the 60-day payroll tax holiday extension and "doc fix" that will expire March 1st.