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Those who testified at Wednesday's hearing made several practical recommendations to those on the Subcommittee. Ms. Zahm told lawmakers that administrative law judges would work more effectively with additional support staff. She said: "Give my judges a clerk and two attorneys and we can go to town [on the DI backlog]." Other witnesses suggested common-sense solutions like eliminating arbitrary deadlines that cause confusion for claimants who are not represented by attorneys that would make the application process more straight-forward. Several witnesses also requested more adequate funding for the Social Security Administration. Ms. Disman told the Subcommittee members, "You could certainly say that with more funding we could do more."."While hold harmless is very valuable protection, the lack of an adequate COLA to begin with, and rapidly growing Part B costs, will keep millions of beneficiaries stuck in a no-growth rut in 2018," Johnson says. The Senior Citizens League is advocating legislation that would provide a more fair and adequate COLA, by tying the annual adjustment to the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly. Projections for The Senior Citizens League show that by using the CPI-E, Social Security benefits would be about 9 percent higher over 25 years. A benefit of ,300 in 2017 would be about 2 per month more using the CPI-E at the end of the 25 year period instead of the current method. To learn more, visit.."Federal Cost of Living Adjustment Will Affect SNAP And Other Benefits Received Through DCFS, December 21, 2020..Our job is to represent you to Congress and keep you informed about what is happening. We rely on you to put pressure on your Senators and Representative when it comes to the legislation we need to have passed..This week, the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees released their highly anticipated annual reports on the financial status of the two programs. In addition, lawmakers remained in their home states and districts to continue the two-week spring recess..If signed into law, the Notch Fairness Act would provide modest compensation to Notch babies, or those individuals who receive lower Social Security benefits because they were born between 1917 and 192TSCL feels that this inequity was brought about by the Social Security Act Amendments that were signed into law in 197Just years before they were set to retire, these individuals learned that they would have significantly lower benefits than originally anticipated. TSCL strongly supports the Notch Fairness Act, which would provide Notch babies with either a ,000 lump-sum payment or an increased monthly benefit..The House Democratic bill would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, and then force drug companies to lower the prices they charge private insurers or impose huge fines on the companies. Pelosi said she wants it to be part of a special budget bill that can pass the Senate without Republican support since it is immune from the filibuster..TSCL will continue to keep a close eye on the evolving immigration negotiations, and we remain hopeful that in the very near future, lawmakers will consider loophole-closing legislation that would prevent Social Security credits from being earned by work done illegally. For updates on the discussions, visit the Legislative News section of our website..In making the 1977 changes, Congress, wanting to avoid an abrupt change, allowed persons born from 1917 through 1921 to use a special transitional benefit formula or the new 1977 formula, whichever would yield the higher of the two benefits. The transition benefit formula never delivered the promised benefit protection, however, because it did not yield a higher benefit amount. Instead, the new benefit formula most often yielded the higher amount.