Let's stop wasting time on debating and legislating different CostOfLivingAdjustments for so many things. This big debate on fiddling with the Social Security COLA is a perfect example.

Welfare recipients attest under penalty of perjury that they are separate households from anyone else with whom they reside. This means that all income earned by others is excluded from determination of eligibility. Often, parents or others close to the applicant provide rent reciepts and attest to preparing food separately. Yet, many of these family members claim the welfare recipients as dependents on their income tax return, obtaining tax credits and reduced tax liabilty. Though illegal, there is no current audit program, and the welfare records are protected under privacy laws. Your representative in Congress should be alerted to the need for a task force to investigate this type of fraud and to put a program in place that will prevent its continuance. Additionally, all individual taxpayers should be granted access to welfare records when cases in which they may be implicated are brought to the attention of the taxing authorities.

The Maine legislature has denied Cost Of Living Adjustment to state retirees. COLA had been in effect for over 30 years. All of us elderly retirees have been grievously hurt by this reduction in calculated retirement while dealing with increased taxes and living expenses.

Identity theft of social security numbers is growing by leaps and bounds. I now have to prove I'm "me" because someone chose to use my social security number to file taxes with the IRS. We're told never to carry our social security cards in our wallets to protect against theft, while always having to carry our Medicare cards for proof of health insurance. Stop using social security numbers for Medicare ID numbers.

This petition will have longer hours of running trains. This is an issue because we pay more than the citizens of new york whom trains run all day and night. We need less drunk driving accidents and more freedoms to get around. Not only I but many others agree that if the cost of train fare raise we also want more out of the system.

We all know someone who depends upon Social Security benefits whether it's because they've retired or because they are disabled. We also know that in most cases, the income they receive doesn't cover all of the costs of day to day living. We must allow increases in these benefits to be based upon the most reasonable index and chained CPI is not that.

People have paid into the fund most of their lives and the monies have been spent on other things like war and now they want to take your funds away and continue the tax deduction...

The funding of Social Security can be enhanced and at the same time those who receive Social Security income can benefit. Social Security should let recipients have an advance equal to or less than one month of their Social Security income at a flat 5% fee. This should be repaid thru deductions in 10 months or less at no more than 10% of the total amount per month. The advance must be repaid in full before another can be given. No credit check is necessary and a request for the advance should be enough.

Support groups are empowering and cost effective community resources, that have been shown to decrease the need for professional services for at-risk populations, while also reducing recidivism for those who receive professional treatment. Groups enhance coping skills and enable their members to enjoy a better quality of life, even as older members help newer ones.

The administration and Congress are promoting a plan to "Chain" the consumer price index used to calculate the annual Cost of Loving Allowance for Social Security recipients. This "Chaining" would assume that as the price of an item increases, consumers would buy a different item. This is blatantly unfair to those who contributed to Social Security in good faith their whole lives.

It is a concern as it is an unfair law that "ONLY" effects the military man or woman who is a military retiree and also has a VA rated disability less than 50%. No other Federal employee is effected by this law when they retiree from federal service. Regardless of their disability rating if they have one, they are allowed to collect both without offset to their pension.

I'm asking you to sign my petition requesting President Barrack Obama to address poverty in the United States. Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornell West are doing their part to bring this issue to light. Yet, no where in our mainstream media do we hear about poverty. Did you know that during the Chicago teacher strike last year, schools in our Presidents home town were left open so the children could get food to eat? Did you know that 1 in 2 babies born in the United States is eligible for WIC? 150 Million, yes that is half of our nation are considered the working poor. This is a national security issue. We are leaving American's behind in the face of soaring Wall Street profits. This doesn't make any sense. Who are we as American's to allow 50% of our population to live in these type of conditions? How can we call ourselves a great nation? To learn more about the issue of poverty please take time to watch the recent forum in January. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIpHmocynjQ I urge you to sign this petition and help your fellow American citizens.