Senate confirms Mukasey as Attorney General. Michael B. Mukasey, a native of New York City who is a former federal district judge and prosecutor, was confirmed by the US Senate late in the evening of November 8 as the nation's 81st attorney general. In September, when he was nominated for the post by President Bush, most senators seemed to support the choice. However, largely because of Mukasey's refusal to label as torture a certain interrogation technique, the nomination became controversial. In the end, the vote to confirm broke down largely along party lines, with all Republicans supporting and most Democrats opposing.
Social Security beneficiaries will see a modest 2.3% increase in their monthly checks in 2008 as a result of inflation. The 2.3% cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, will produce an estimated average monthly benefit of $1,079 for all retired workers in 2008, $35 a month more than in 2007. However, $2.90, or 8.3%, of that increase will be eaten up by a rise in the standard premium paid by beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Part B in 2008. The COLA increase will be applied to this coming year's benefits, beginning with benefits for December 2007, which are first payable in January 2008. Senate amendment would block U.S.-Mexico Social Security agreement. The Senate has passed an amendment to a spending bill that would prohibit the use of funds to make Social Security benefit payments under a totalization agreement with Mexico. Sen. John Ensign (R., Nev), the amendment's sponsor, said the pending totalization agreement would allow Mexican workers to qualify for partial Social Security benefits in the United States with as little as one and one-half years of work history, instead of the normally required 10 years. Family members living in Mexico also would qualify for US Social Security benefits because the proposed agreement would waive rules that prevent payments to noncitizens, such as children and spouses, living outside the United States, Ensign said.
