This week, Members of Congress adjourned for a week-long holiday recess, and many have been hosting town hall meetings in their home states and districts.
Lawmakers Adjourn for Holiday Recess
This week, lawmakers in the House and Senate returned to their home states and districts for a week-long holiday recess. Those in the Senate are expected to return to Capitol Hill on Monday, June 5th, and those in the House will return on Tuesday, June 6th.
In the meantime, many Members of Congress will be holding town hall meetings or attending local events in their home states and districts. TSCL encourages older Americans to attend these events and to ask questions of their elected officials about important Social Security and Medicare issues, like the following four…
1. If signed into law, the House-passed American Health Care Act would create an immediate funding crisis for the Medicare Part A Trust Fund by eliminating a key revenue source and providing the wealthiest Americans with a massive tax cut. Do you support this provision of the bill, and if adopted, what efforts would you back to address the Medicare funding crisis?
2. Most Americans contribute 6.2 percent of every paycheck to Social Security, but due to the payroll tax cap, people earning more than $127,200 contribute nothing over that amount. Do you support legislation like the newly-introduced Social Security 2100 Act (H.R. 1902), which would extend the solvency of the program by requiring millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share?
3. The government is required to negotiate prescription drug prices for Medicaid and for veterans, but it is not allowed to negotiate lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries. As a result, older Americans often end up paying much more for their prescriptions. Do you support this policy?
4. If the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) were based on a more accurate measure of inflation for seniors, beneficiaries would not be receiving a record-low 0.3% increase this year. They would be receiving an increase of 2.1% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Do you support legislation that would base the COLA on a more accurate inflation index like the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly?
To see if your Members of Congress will be holding town hall meetings in the coming days, call their local offices. You can find contact information HERE.
