Entitlements

BOSTON (AP) — Opening a new front in legal battles over college admissions, the U.S. Department of Education has launched a civil rights investigation into Harvard University's policies on legacy admissions. Top colleges' preferential treatment of children of alumni, who are... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of retirees on Social Security will get a 5.9% boost in benefits for 2022. The biggest cost-of-living adjustment in 39 years follows a burst in inflation as the economy struggles to shake off the drag of... Read More

WASHINGTON — America's safety net programs are running out of money, and fast. All four major trust funds — Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicare Hospital Insurance, and the Highway trust fund —are heading for... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats on Thursday endorsed a proposal to create congressional committees specifically tasked to restore and strengthen endangered federal trust funds. The coalition of fiscally-responsible, centrist Democrats said in a statement that without... Read More

WASHINGTON—Group Health Cooperative in Seattle, one of the nation’s oldest and most respected nonprofit health insurance plans, is accused of bilking Medicare out of millions of dollars in a federal whistleblower case. Teresa Ross, a former medical billing manager at... Read More

WASHINGTON - Reps. Anthony Brindisi, D-N.Y., and Mike Bost, R-Ill., led a successful bipartisan effort to extend key veterans programs such as support for traveling far for medical care. The Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act of 2019 extends... Read More

WASHINGTON - On the one hand, it's easy to see why some in the party would embrace so-called "free" or "debt-free" college and the forgiveness of student loans. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,  electrified younger voters with his ambitious proposals in... Read More

In July, freshman Representative Deb Haaland, D-N.M., was joined by a dozen colleagues to introduce important legislation aimed at supporting family-friendly workplaces and incentivizing businesses to implement family-friendly policies for their workers.  H.R. 3838, the Honoring Family Friendly Workplaces Act,... Read More

In July, freshman Representative Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., introduced the Personal Needs Allowance Modernization Act to improve the financial security of Medicaid beneficiaries living in nursing facilities.  Currently, Medicaid beneficiaries who are eligible for nursing care must contribute almost their entire... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House on Thursday approved a deal to lift the nation's debt ceiling and raise caps set on federal spending for the next two years. But even as the votes were being cast on the measure, members of... Read More

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper signed an executive order Thursday permitting full-time state government employees to take up to eight weeks off after adopting or having a child. Executive Order 95 also provides 4 weeks of paid parental leave to... Read More

Both Social Security and Medicare are on unstable financial footing, and lawmakers need to act sooner rather than later to shore up America’s bedrock retirement programs and phase in needed changes, the trustees of both programs said in reports released... Read More