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On Wednesday, lawmakers on the Senate HELP Committee held a courtesy hearing to question Representative Tom Price, a Congressman from Georgia and an orthopedic surgeon who has been nominated to fill the position of HHS Secretary. Both the Social Security Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services fall under the jurisdiction of HHS, and the agency has one of the federal government's largest budgets at trillion..Split your pills if you can: You can further cut your costs in half by splitting your pills in half. Ask your doctor if pill splitting would work with your prescriptions. Your doctor would need to write a prescription with a dosage twice as high as you normally take. You can readily find inexpensive pill splitters at your pharmacy. If you do split your pills, make sure your family and emergency caregivers also know! Carefully label all prescriptions that require splitting..The CR will fund the government through this coming Friday, Dec. 18, at the same level as fy2020 funding. If they still can't reach an agreement it is likely they will pass another CR that will go to the end of the year. That would give them time to go home for Christmas and then return to Washington to continue trying to reach a final agreement..I have proudly introduced this important legislation every single Congress since coming to the House of Representatives in 201Despite having over 100 bipartisan cosponsors each Congress, the bill has unfortunately received little attention from House leadership. In September 2018, myself and my colleague, Rep. Garret Graves offered this bill as an amendment to the Family Savings Act, which was part of Rep. Kevin Brady's "Tax 2.0" package. Unfortunately, the amendment was ultimately defeated, but highlighting this important issue. It continues to be my priority..The .5 billion for VA health care improvements will now be paid for with savings elsewhere in the budget. However, one Democratic aide said the funds used to pay for the program were gimmicks that do not harm spending in vital programs..How would switching to the chained CPI cut Social Security?.Are Cuts The Only Way to Reduce the Deficit?.Known as "auxiliary beneficiaries," they are children, widows, spouses, and parents, entitled to benefits on the record of another individual. The Social Security Act requires that individuals first entitled to benefits as of June 1, 1989 or later, must have applied for a Social Security number to receive benefits. But a recent audit by the Social Security Office of Inspector General found that, as of June 2014, there are 11,179 auxiliary beneficiaries without SSNs receiving benefits because of a loophole - they became entitled to benefits prior to June 1, 1989 and therefore are not required to have an SSN on the Social Security Administration's Master Benefit Record or to have applied for one to receive benefits..If your brother was a victim of auto dealer fraud, you may want to look for an attorney who would be willing to work on a contingency basis. If fraud is proven, your brother may be allowed to surrender the unwanted vehicle and the court may order a refund of all payments made toward purchase in addition to canceling any outstanding loan balances. If your brother will have trouble affording an attorney, contact your local Area Agency on Aging or senior services department and ask about legal aid services in your area.