Under the cuts, House members have seen 948 fewer salaried positions in their offices. The 2012 budget calls for an additional 6.4 percent reduction and more cuts to Congressional staffs and office supplies. .Are These Home Nurse Visits Legit? .Recently a journalist, familiar with my estimates of cost-of-living adjustments, contacted me for my thoughts on the topic.. What's Missing From Your Social Security Check? For Many — 7 , editor .Living on a Social Security budget can make gift-giving tough. Here are five thoughtful ideas for do-it-yourself gifts that will make the season merrier for all: .The basic science that has allowed the small company to move so rapidly was developed with a huge prior infusion of federal money to come up with a treatment for diseases like Zika. .Deficit hawks on Capitol Hill agree that the current inflation index is inaccurate, but instead of adopting a method that actually measures seniors' spending, many have been advocating for an index that would further trim COLAs. The "chained" CPI has been lauded by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle – including President Obama – as a small technical correction that would factor in the substitution that occurs when the prices of certain goods increase. However, since medical care – a major expense for seniors – cannot be substituted for something cheaper, this index would unfairly affect them. After ten years, adopting the "chained" CPI would result in an monthly benefit cut for the average retired couple, and that loss would continue to compound. .Only five weeks remain before the conference committee's December 13th deadline, and House and Senate appropriators are urging the conferees to settle on a top-line spending number even earlier – before the Thanksgiving recess begins on November 22nd. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (MD), Chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said this week: "We believe that if an agreement on a discretionary spending number can be reached early, it will allow for more thoughtful and responsible spending decisions." .For details, or to see if your Members of Congress will hold town hall meetings over the holiday recess, contact their offices. You can find contact information for all Members of Congress in the ACTION CENTER of our website. .TSCL is also concerned about the debt limit because in prior debates to lift the ceiling, Social Security benefits have been used as a bargaining chip, and retirees have seen unexpected benefit cuts. For example, in 2015, following the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act, millions of seniors already eligible for Social Security benefits learned a popular claiming method called "file and suspend" would no longer be available to them. The unexpected change received no public debate, it went into effect almost immediately, and it hit seniors who were just months away from retirement.