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The new cosponsors are: Sen. Jack Reed, Reps. Mark Takano, James Langevin, Ed Whitfield, Patrick Meehan, William Keating, Duncan Hunter, Anna Eshoo, Sam Farr, Raul Grijalva, John Larson, Billy Long, Michael Honda, David Price, Daniel Lipinski, Jan Schakowsky, Rosa DeLauro, and Ed Royce..The new Congress has been sworn into office but little in the way of legislation regarding Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid has yet been introduced. As we all are no doubt aware, there have been other things on Congress' plate the last week or two, to say the least. But once President Biden is sworn into office this Wednesday Congress will return and the legislative season will be off and running..Have health insurance coverage. If you are under the age of 65 and didn't have health insurance for some or part of 2014 you may have to pay a tax penalty. For people who don't have Medicare or Medicaid, the penalty for not having coverage is the greater of 1% of your annual income, or The penalty is rising in 2015 to the greater of 2% or 5 per person..As originally introduced, the bill tied all income taxes paid on Social Security benefits to the Social Security Trust Fund, and none to the Medicare Trust Fund. Instead, the bill specified that revenues destined for the Medicare Trust Fund would come from general revenues, in an amount equal to those that the trust fund was otherwise estimated to receive from the taxation of Social Security benefits..TSCL is hopeful that Congress will provide the Social Security Administration with the funding and staffing necessary to make progress on reducing the DI backlog. As Ranking Member John Larson said at Wednesday's hearing, "[A backlog of] six hundred days is flat-out unacceptable." In the coming weeks, TSCL will provide the Social Security Subcommittee with policy recommendations. We will summarize them here in the Legislative News section of our website after they are submitted to the Subcommittee for review.."Social Security: What Would Happen If The Trust Funds Ran Out?" Christine Scott, Congressional Research Service, August 2, 201Debt Limit Analysis, Bipartisan Policy Center, July 2011..This week, appropriators in the House and Senate revealed a unique proposal to prevent a government shutdown on December 11th. It would fund the entire federal government through the remainder of the fiscal year, except for the Department of Homeland Security. That agency would only receive funding through the next three months, which should buy lawmakers enough time to solidify a legislative response to President Obama's recent immigration orders..Social Security benefits are one of the few types of retirement income to be automatically adjusted annually for inflation. In 2020, more than 61 million Social Security recipients received a 1.6 percent annual COLA, which raised the average ,460 benefit by .40 per month..To learn more, visit.