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For details, or to see if your Members of Congress will be holding town hall meetings during the summer recess, call their local offices. You can find contact information HERE..This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the "Gang of Eight's" immigration reform bill by a vote of thirteen to five. In addition, two House Ways and Means Subcommittees held hearings on entitlement reform, and The Senior Citizens League saw support grow for four key bills..In a controversial political maneuver, Members of the House passed a bill on Friday that would keep federal agencies funded through December 15th, but withdraw spending for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The bill is now in the hands of the Senate, where leaders will likely attempt to strip it of the language that defunds the health care law. When asked how he plans to move forward with the House bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said: "Any bill that defunds Obamacare is dead. It's a waste of time." The bill has also received numerous veto threats from the White House..TSCL encourages its members and supporters to attend these events and to ask questions of their elected officials about important Social Security and Medicare issues, like the following four….Every day, thousands of our neighbors and friends protect our cities, educate our students, and deliver vital services to our communities. While these selfless public servants have spent their lives giving back, our antiquated federal policies take away the benefits that these workers have rightly earned..New eligibility rules make it considerably easier for millions of applicants, including seniors under the age of 65, who are too young for Medicare, to qualify for the program. But older seniors continue to have much more restrictive and stringent asset and savings tests to satisfy before they qualify for Medicaid, because the new rules don't apply to seniors age 65 and older. This sets up inequities in benefits between seniors like Notch Babies who are in their late 80s and 90s and who are more likely to be receiving long-term care, and other people younger than 65 who will benefit from the less stringent Medicaid qualification rules..In March, TSCL delivered letters to several leaders in Congress including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows requesting their immediate action on the looming debt ceiling crisis. Art Cooper, the Chairman of TSCL's Board of Trustees, wrote: "Our supporters nation-wide hope you will act swiftly and responsibly to avert delays in Social Security benefits and payments to Medicare providers, and they will not tolerate additional cuts to their earned Social Security benefits.".For years, TSCL has been advocating on Capitol Hill for a more fair and accurate Social Security COLA for beneficiaries. The Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers Act legislation introduced by Rep. Michael Honda is a common-sense solution that would better protect the purchasing power of Social Security benefits since it would use a more accurate measure of inflation..However, it's not clear whether employers are going to pass the savings on to employees. Since the taxes would be deferred, not waived, several experts question whether firms would actually pass the money along to their workers, because it is the businesses that are on the hook for the taxes.