Last week, the two leaders of the Republicans and Democrats in the Senate finally were able to reach an agreement on organizing the Senate for the next two years. An agreement was needed because each party has 50 Senators. Because of that, Vice President Kamala Harris, who is President of the Senate as provided for in the Constitution, will break any tie votes that may occur. That includes the vote to organize the Senate. .By using reconciliation, it would mean there would have to billions of dollars cut from current spending programs, including Medicare. .Social Security's Disability Insurance program is littered with waste. Last year, for example, .8 billion in overpayments were made to those collecting disability benefits. In addition, the administration has allowed an enormous backlog to accumulate for Continuing Disability Reviews, which are conducted to determine whether a beneficiary has recovered enough to return to work. Currently, every dollar spent reviewing cases yields more than ten dollars in savings; if the backlog were eliminated, more than billion in savings would be returned to the Trust Fund. The potential savings from eliminating waste within Social Security are enormous and could cover the cost of the Notch Fairness Act. Second, Congress could increase the amount of income subject to the Social Security payroll tax – an option that sixty-seven percent of TSCL members strongly supported in this year's Senior Survey. Currently, yearly income earned above 0,100 is not subject to the payroll tax. .As of 2019, one quarter of American adults had no retirement savings at all. Only 36 percent of non-retired American adults think that "their retirement saving is on track," according to the Federal Reserve's annual report. There is no question about it: our nation can do a better job of equipping and encouraging our senior citizens to be prepared for this next season of their lives and provide more opportunities for Americans to plan long-range. Part of this can be done at a policy level, by passing practical reforms that address the obstacles to saving that some Americans experience. We must also address this on a personal level, by ensuring more Americans are equipped with the knowledge and resources they need to effectively save for and secure their futures. ."TSCL strongly believes that earnings under invalid SSNs should be also be invalid for entitlement to benefits," says Hyland. "Document fraud, identity theft and violation of immigration law should not be rewarded with Social Security benefits, especially as Congress considers cutting Social Security cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs)," he states. To learn more and find out how much you could lose by COLA cuts, visit http:// /chained-cola-calculator/. To learn more, visit . .He predicted that lawmakers will pass a six-month "doc fix" later this month in order to buy more time for the offset discussions. If Congress takes that route, the temporary pay patch would expire at the end of September – the same time that funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) will run out. Rep. Price suggested that a permanent repeal of the SGR would likely be rolled into a package with CHIP's reauthorization. ."Reducing the cost of prescription drugs is essential for both Medicare beneficiaries and Medicare's finances," says Mary Johnson, a Medicare policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). The average monthly Social Security retiree benefit is just ,552, while spending on prescription drugs is the fastest growing cost that most retirees face in retirement," she says. Over time, drug costs take a growing portion of Social Security income, because prices are rising several times faster than annual cost of living adjustments (COLAs). .This week, lawmakers in the House adjourned for a week-long recess, while those in the Senate heard from Sylvia Mathews Burwell, who was recently nominated by President Obama to serve as the next Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Meanwhile, The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) saw . .Congress already had deferred most employer payroll taxes for the rest of 2020, so the President is now attempting to defer workers' payroll taxes. This relief only applies to people who are working and collecting a paycheck. Most importantly for seniors, if the taxes were not repaid, it would move the Social Security Trust Fund more quickly toward insolvency.