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As a father of three children attending public school, I want them to have access to the best educators. H.R. 973 will not only give our public servants the certainty they deserve but a chance to recruit and retain the best, brightest, and most dedicated educators so America can continue to compete..CLASS Program Closer to Being Repealed.With it being such a contentious election year, Congress enacted legislation to limit that jump in Part B which could be made even worse because the COLAs of so many beneficiaries would not be high enough to cover the full amount of the increase..A new study recently found that Social Security benefits have lost 34 percent of their purchasing power since 2000 due to rising costs and inadequate cost-of-living adjustments. Do you support the bipartisan CPI-E Act, which would make the COLA more fair and adequate?.New Congress Sworn in but Little in the Way of Legislation Yet.This week, TSCL announced its support for the Protecting and Preserving Social Security Act, which was introduced by Senator Mazie Hirono and Representative Ted Deutch. Their bill, if signed into law, would base Social Security cost-of-living adjustments on the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers and it would gradually phase out the cap on income subject to the payroll tax over a period of seven years..Key Bill Gains Support.In 2017, you are allowed to earn ,880 or in the months prior to full retirement age without any reduction to your benefits. If you earn more than that, Social Security will withhold in benefits for every over that amount..Under growing pressure to reduce the federal deficit, the prospect of major Social Security and Medicare cuts is the greatest it's been in almost three decades. The recent debt limit deal calls for a bipartisan committee that has until Thanksgiving to come up with a plan to cut the deficit by .2 trillion. TSCL believes that the committee would very likely include a change to a more slowly growing consumer price index that would cut annual-cost-of-living adjustments. There are also proposals that would require seniors to pay a bigger portion of their Medicare costs.

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Comparison shop &nash; You can often save by getting prescription medicines, flea and tick products, and heartworm preventatives through pet catalogs and internet discounters..The BPC notes that this combination of lower revenues and higher program costs will shorten the solvency of the Social Security. Its blog points to past changes in Social Security solvency. In 2008, prior to the full impact of the Great Recession, Social Security Trustees estimated the Trust Fund would be depleted in 204By the time the recession had run its course, in 2012 high unemployment and sluggish economic growth had moved up the insolvency date to 2033..In addition, one new cosponsor Senator Kamala Harris signed on to the Social Security Expansion Act from Senator Bernie Sanders. The cosponsor total is now at three in the Senate. If adopted, the bill would strengthen and expand the Social Security program by basing COLAs on the CPI-E, increasing monthly checks by per month, and improving the Special Minimum Benefit. It would cover the cost of these changes and strengthen the solvency of the trust fund by applying the payroll tax to income over 0,000 and applying a 6.2 percent tax on investment income for wealthy individuals. … Continued

Health Reform Perspective The Potential Side Effects Of Halbig

On Thursday, after thirty hours of debate, the Senate voted to confirm the nomination of Sylvia Mathews Burwell as the next HHS Secretary. Burwell has served as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget for the past year, and she will now replace Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who announced her resignation in April. In her new position, Burwell will manage the Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid programs, and she will also oversee the continued implementation of the Affordable Care Act, among other things..Second, the Social Security Fairness Act of 2017 gained one new cosponsor in Senator Tina Smith, bringing the cosponsor total to twenty-two. If signed into law, S. 915 would repeal the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision two Social Security provisions that cut the earned benefits of millions of teachers, police officers, and other public servants each year..The Post added, "Outside the administration, Trump's intended drug debit cards are drawing criticism from the pharmaceutical industry, budget and health policy experts of both political parties, and even a conservative publication." … Continued