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Already Senate leaders are making in known that they won't get their work done on time again this year. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby said he's ready to move ahead with fiscal 2021 spending bills. But he told his subcommittee chairmen the Senate isn't likely to pass those measures until after the election, in December. Lawmakers expect to pass another stop-gap to prevent a funding lapse in September..In 2015, the monthly Medicare Part B premium for people with incomes less than ,000 was 4.90. When the Social Security Administration announced that there would be no COLA in 2016, Barbara - like 70 percent of all other Social Security recipients - was protected from reductions in her Social Security benefits by a provision of law known as "hold harmless." Barbara's Medicare Part B premium stayed the same, at 4.90, even though Medicare Part B premiums that year rose to 1.80 for people like new enrollees who were not protected by hold harmless..This week, lawmakers in the House remained in their home districts, while those in the Senate returned to Capitol Hill to begin working on a plan to avoid a government shutdown. In addition, The Senior Citizens League saw three key bills gain support..On Monday evening, Senator John Cornyn told reporters that the Senate's bill would include major differences from the House version. He said: "We're going to start from scratch, really. It's helpful for us to have [House lawmakers] go first to see the kind of issues that come up and anticipate those in the Finance Committee markup. But I'm still pretty optimistic we'll get this done before Thanksgiving.".would significantly drive up costs for older Americans,.Why is it so Hard to Lower Prescription Drug Prices?.Statement of Martin H. Gerry, Social Security Administration, Before Subcommittee on Social Security of the House Committee on Ways and Means, March 2, 200Individuals Who Are Not Authorized To Work In The United States Were Paid .2 Billion In Refundable Credits, Treasury Inspector General For Tax Administration, July 7, 2011, 2011-41-06"Social Security Benefits For Noncitizens," Congressional Research Service, July 20, 2006, RL32004..TSCL believes stronger protections are needed and supports legislation that would prohibit using earnings from illegal work to determine Social Security benefits. What do you think? Take TSCL's 2015 Senior Survey now..Usually during economic downturns many older workers are forced into retirement when they lose jobs. While the pandemic may have caused more to retire earlier than planned, deaths removed hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries from Social Security rolls. In fact, life expectancy plunged by a full year in the first half of 2020, from 78.8 years to 77.8 years, the biggest drop since World War II.