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Republican lawmakers are voicing deep skepticism about passing another round of ,200 rebate checks as they contemplate the next and possibly final stage of coronavirus relief legislation..Budget Deal Passes With Provisions To Head Off SSDI Benefit Cut.The Senior Citizens League is relieved that Members of Congress were able to avert the Fiscal Cliff and provide a "doc fix" without enacting harsh benefit cuts. However, topics like "chaining" the Social Security COLA and increasing means testing measures within Medicare will likely resurface next month, when Congress will be required to raise the debt ceiling address the spending cuts once again. In the meantime, TSCL will continue to inform Members of Congress about the consequences of cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits, and we will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website..The Ryan Budget would not only force seniors to pay more for their healthcare but it would reopen the Medicare prescription drug 'donut hole,' forcing many seniors to pay more for their life-saving prescription medications..A survey conducted by TSCL from January through May 15, 2016 found that 83% of older voters oppose entitlement to Social Security and Medicare benefits based on earnings from jobs worked without legal authorization. "Concern is high that undocumented immigrants who were illegally present and who worked under fake, invalid, or fraudulent Social Security numbers may benefit based on such work, potentially at the expense of others who paid into the system the legal way," says TSCL Chairman, Ed Cates..At issue is whether illegal immigrants would be able to benefit for Social Security and Medicare purposes from jobs worked prior to gaining work authorization. Senators Orrin Hatch and Marco Rubio introduced an amendment that would give the Social Security program protections to prevent payment of benefits based on prior illegal work. The amendment was strongly supported and endorsed by TSCL..The system, however, isn't estimated to be able to pay scheduled benefits in full for that long. The Social Security Trustees estimate that the Trust Funds will become fully insolvent by the end of 203When Trustees use the term insolvent that means the point at which all the extra revenues that were borrowed, now totaling more than .6 trillion, have run out, and there are no more IOUs held by the Trust Fund. Some people believe that, when the Trust Funds are exhausted, Social Security will be completely unable to pay benefits. But that's not the case..When comparing plans, beneficiaries are generally told to check premium costs, deductibles and other cost-sharing, whether the plan covers the drugs you actually take, provider networks, and added benefits, if any, not covered by Medicare. All of that is essential. But one key consideration that can be overlooked is how the plan uses prior authorization..On Monday, President Obama released his .066 trillion budget blueprint for fiscal 201His plan puts an end to the so-called "sequester" and increases spending for defense and discretionary programs by 7 percent. Upon releasing the blueprint, he said, "I'm not going to accept a budget that locks in sequestration going forward. It would be bad for our security and bad for our growth. I want to work with Congress to replace mindless austerity with smart investments."