State legislatures magazine first branch news legislative headlines week of april 12 2021 magazine2021 data image png base64 iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAHsAAAAVCAYAAABmOZFVAAAAAXNSR0IArs4c6QAAAARnQU1BAACxjwv8YQUAAAAJcEhZcwAAEnQAABJ0Ad5mH3gAAABPSURBVGhD7dExAcAwDMCwdPxZBVj7jIWsxwB8dvdOCN fAJoNaTak2ZBmQ5oNaTak2ZBmQ5oNaTak2ZBmQ5oNaTak2ZBmQ5oNaTak2YyZByvoA3Lay1 oAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC

The Social Security Trust Fund is the single largest holder of U.S. debt. In the past, when more payroll taxes were received than required to pay benefits, the surplus was by law, used for other purposes. The federal government accounted for borrowing the funds by issuing I.O.Us from the U.S. Treasury to Social Security or Medicare Trust Funds. In recent years, the program's financing reversed and now both Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds are paying out more in benefits than money coming in. Both now rely on drawing down the interest and then the I.O.Us. But when the rest of the federal budget is in deficit, the government must borrow to pay Social Security and Medicare benefits. And according to a growing number of economists, those borrowing days are numbered..Enactment of Notch Reform remains a TSCL priority in 201Recently, TSCL legislative staff made personal visits to nearly every Member of the U.S. House, delivering petitions calling for the immediate enactment of The Notch Fairness Act H.R. 1001 and S. 11The legislation would provide Notch Babies born 1917 through 1926 with a choice of ,000 payable in four annual installments or an improved monthly benefit..The study examined the increase in costs of 39 key items between 2000 and January 201The items were chosen because they are typical of the costs of most Social Security recipients, and include expenditures like the Medicare Part B premium, that are not measured by the index currently used to calculate the COLA. Of the 39 items analyzed, 25 exceeded the percentage of increase in the COLA over the same period. "This study illustrates why legislation is needed to provide a more fair and adequate COLA," Johnson says. "To put it in perspective, the same 0 worth of groceries that a retiree household could buy in 2000, can only buy worth today," Johnson adds..While economists are still sorting out the reason for the fall in inflation, I recently asked what you have observed in the way of prices. Are the goods and services on which you typically spend most of your budget really falling - or are those prices actually going up?.In a way that's not news. You already knew prices had been going up and so did we at TSCL. But it's nice to have the facts to back us up.."But all bets would be off if the current payroll tax system is eliminated, or changed to something else," Johnson says. Getting rid of the payroll tax raises a great many questions as to how benefits would be calculated. Currently, retirement benefits are calculated on the 35 years of highest earnings. "Because wages tend to grow over time, replacing the current system with something else could mean lower benefits," Johnson points out..We should hope for our young adults, and workers from all walks of life, to aspire to serve their communities and become public servants. However, policies like the WEP and GPO only discourage our young people from becoming teachers, firefighters, and public health workers..A second strategy that was changed permitted married couples who reached full retirement age to file a "restricted application" which allowed individuals to collect only a spousal benefit, while their own benefits continued to increase. Unlike file and suspend, this change applies to people younger than age 62 by the end of 2015, so you still can take advantage of some planning to maximize what you get..Last week TSCL was part of a virtual meeting with Senator John Thune who, as the Majority Whip, is the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, after Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

2015 Election Legislation Enacted By State Legislatures635894861
Thus, under this hypothetical legislation, benefit obligations could not be met after the depletion of the asset reserves and elimination of payroll taxes. If this hypothetical legislation were enacted, with no alternative source of revenue to replace the elimination of payroll taxes on earned income paid on January 1, 2021 and thereafter, we estimate that DI Trust Fund asset reserves would become permanently depleted in about the middle of calendar year 2021, with no ability to pay DI benefits thereafter. We estimate that OASI Trust Fund reserves would become permanently depleted by the middle of calendar year 2023, with no ability to pay OASI benefits thereafter..In addition, one new cosponsor Rep. Marcia Fudge signed on to the Social Security Fairness Act, bringing the total up to one hundred and twenty-one. If signed into law, the Social Security Fairness Act would repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision two federal provisions that unfairly reduce the earned Social Security benefits of millions of teachers, fire fighters, peace officers, and other state or local government employees each year..Many Members of Congress will schedule town halls throughout the month of August, giving voters the opportunity to voice their opinions. … Continued

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Lawmakers Adjourn for Remainder of Year.First, the payroll tax cut undermines the self–sustaining nature of Social Security and for the first time in more than seventy years, the program has become reliant on the federal government's general revenues. Under the law, the government must provide Social Security's Trust Fund with a dollar–for–dollar replacement for any lost revenues due to the tax cut. In 2011, the government's reimbursement funds accounted for 13 percent of Social Security's income. TSCL finds it troubling that the tax cut has disrupted the financing structure of Social Security, which has worked seamlessly since the program's inception..In a letter to Marilyn Tavenner, the Acting Administrator of CMS, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission warned that some of the health plans don't have the experience to manage the full range of benefits required by dual eligibles or the capacity to serve large numbers that would be automatically transferred into the plans en masse at the beginning of the program. … Continued

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