Legislative News … Daniel Nnorth and Claudia Schott

This month, we have three points on which AARP would like us to take a stand.  The first one is about prescription drug prices and there are two bills, one being the “Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples Act of 2019” or the “CREATES Act of 2019”, or H.R. 965 (Rep David Ciciline, D-RI) and the other is “Protecting Consumer Access to Generic Drugs Act of 2019”, or H.R. 1499 (Rep Robert Rush, D-IL).  AARP has started a campaign to let Representatives know this is what we want and we need.  AARP is asking us to help by talking to our Representatives.  Be sure to ask them if they are willing to co-sponsor and support either of these bills.

AARP and our 38 million members across the country are taking on the drug companies in Washington and every state with TV, digital and radio advertising, grassroots action, social media, events, and more.  This is important for us.  This is not just the two bills in Congress, but a fight for our ability to continue to afford our medications

The second point is age discrimination.  This is a fight to be able to work and have the same rights as younger workers, basically, fairness for all workers, regardless of age.  AARP fully supports H.R.1230 (Rep Robert Scott, D-VA) and S.B. 485 (Sen Robert Casey, D-PA), the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act (POWADA), a bipartisan bill.  These bills would restore our ability to fight against age discrimination by making age just a factor, not the primary factor of the discrimination.  Again, AARP is asking us to talk to our Representatives and Senators to cosponsor and support these bills.

The last point for us to make a stand is H.R.2073 (Rep Katie Porter, D-CA), a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permanently extend the 7.5 percent adjusted gross income floor for the medical expense deduction.  AARP is supporting the bill because it would to keep the threshold for the deduction as low as possible to help protect people with high medical costs.  We need to call our representatives to get them to cosponsor and support this bill.

We need to take a stand on these issues to protect our rights, our way of life and our ability to afford it.

Happy Mother’s Day to all who are mothers and have mothers!

Happy Memorial Day to one and all!  All gave some, some gave all.  In remembrance of those who gave all.