This week, The Senior Citizens League's legislative team hand-delivered nearly eight hundred petitions to leaders in the Senate. The petitions urged lawmakers to support legislation that would boost Social Security benefits while strengthening the financing of the program by adopting the Social Security Expansion Act (S. 427). .Many of our nation's seniors live on fixed incomes and struggle to afford everyday expenses. Sadly, a large number of these individuals are also disabled. There are several existing programs that support the most vulnerable among us, but the number of agencies, applications, reporting requirements and additional obstacles they must tackle to access these funds make it unnecessarily difficult for them to receive the benefits they desperately need and deserve. .The payraise goes into effect automatically unless denied by legislation, or adjusted by a provision of law that prevents Congress from receiving a percentage of pay increase that would be greater than any payraise received by the General Schedule to federal workers. When Congress passed legislation in December of 2010 that froze the pay of federal workers through December 31, 2012, they effectively froze their own pay as well. No similar provision of law, however, prevents Congress from receiving a bigger COLA than seniors. The adjustment for Congress is not determined like the COLA for seniors, which is based on changes in consumer prices. Instead the Congressional COLA is based on changes in private sector wages and salaries as measured by the Employment Cost Index. Members of Congress were originally scheduled to receive a pay adjustment in January 2010, of 2.1%, and in 2011 of 0.9% had legislation not prohibited it. .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. .The FDA is particularly concerned that these deceptive and misleading products might cause Americans to delay or stop appropriate medical treatment, leading to serious and life-threatening harm. It's likely that the products do not do what they claim, and the ingredients in them could cause adverse effects and could interact with, and potentially interfere with, essential medications. .Joint filers in households where both spouses work or where one or both spouses have more than one job. .The chances for legislation remain strong as more experts say older seniors need a benefit boost to protect them from outliving their retirement resources. Your continued support, letters, and phone calls to Members of Congress make all the difference in building co-sponsorship. TSCL has been instrumental in building support for the Notch Fairness legislation and remains committed to passage. .You might better be able to help your brother by reminding him of doctor visits and seeing that he gets to appointments. You can also help by monitoring his care plan, and making sure he understands how and when to take prescriptions and any other forms of therapy. .The Notch Fairness Act, which was introduced by Rep. Mike McIntyre (NC-7) in March, would provide compensation to Notch babies, or those born between the years 1917 and 192Just years before they were set to retire, these individuals learned that they would have significantly lower benefits than they originally anticipated. TSCL feels that this is an inequity that was brought about because of the Social Security Act Amendments enacted and signed into law in 1977.