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In a rare holiday session, Members of the House and Senate voted to pass the American Taxpayer Relief Act in order to avert the Fiscal Cliff. With votes of 89-8 in the Senate and 257-167 in the House, the bill was approved in the first hours of the New Year, and it was signed into law by the President on Wednesday. The measure permanently extends the Bush-era tax rates for individuals making less than 0,000 and couples making less than 0,000, and it allows rates to increase for those making more. The law also temporarily prevents a 27 percent pay cut for physicians who treat Medicare patients, and it includes a two-month postponement of the automatic spending cuts that were scheduled to take effect on January 1st..In a statement that was released after the final vote, Senator McCain said: "We must now return to the correct way of legislating and send the bill back to committee, hold hearings, receive input from both sides of the aisle, heed the recommendations of the nation's governors, and produce a bill that finally delivers affordable health care for the American people. We must do the hard work our citizens expect of us and deserve." In addition, Senator Murkowski told reporters: "We cannot let the public believe that we are done with health care. We're just beginning.".Lawmakers continued working on an omnibus spending bill this week to fund the federal government past December 11th. In addition, The Senior Citizens League saw support grow for one key bill that would give Social Security beneficiaries a cost-of-living adjustment next year..The switch is insidious for that reason. But a.03 of a percentage point reduction can make a huge difference to what you receive in Social Security, especially as you get older. The following chart illustrates the impact over the first ten years on a married couple that receives ,500 per month in Social Security benefits today. After ten years the cut would reduce benefits by per month, and by nearly ,475 over that period..If you were born during the Notch period and receive Social Security benefits based on your work record, or that of a Notch Baby spouse, you have been affected by this inequity from your first Social Security check. According to TSCL studies, this disparity costs you on average about ,000 to as much as ,000 per year in lower benefits..McCaskill brought her own brother's experience with pharmaceutical companies as an example to illustrate the way companies wine and dine the doctors who prescribe their medications..Another possibility for House legislative action is subsidies to make health care more affordable..My estimate is based on CPI data through March 2019 and projected through the third quarter of 2019, the quarter that the Social Security Administration will use to determine the COLA..COLA Fairness - TSCL strongly believes that the Social Security cost-of-living-adjustment that seniors are currently receiving does not accurately reflect how they must spend their money. Our studies and surveys indicate that the current COLA is growing too slowly and does not accurately measure inflation experienced by seniors. The COLA is based on a consumer price index that reflects how young urban workers tend to spend their money. Older Americans spend a disproportionate share of their household budget on health care. Since health care costs continue to rise so quickly and since most health care spending cannot be substituted out for something cheaper TSCL believes that seniors would be better served if their COLA was based upon a consumer price index for elderly consumers, the CPI-E. Current COLA efforts