Alert–Yes, We Have Progress!

We’re Ready for a House vote; Time to Lean on Senators; Building State Coalitions

1.    We now have 294 Members of the House of Representatives who have co-signed H.R. 82, to fully repeal the WEP and GPO–more than what we need! Sponsors, Davis and Spanberger, have formally requested a House VOTE on their bill.  Call your Member of Congress and thank them or tell them why you still need them to co-sign H.R. 82.  You can see if they have signed on by clicking on the link near the top of our website–ssfairness.org.

2.  Here’s why we need to keep up the pressure:

“House rules allow a member of Congress to file a motion with the House Clerk to place their legislation on the Consensus Calendar once their legislation has accumulated at least 290 cosponsors. If the legislation maintains at least 290 cosponsors for 25 legislative days, and the committee of jurisdiction does not report the legislation, it will be placed on the Consensus Calendar.(Bold added) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has the authority to bring legislation on the Consensus Calendar to the floor for a vote before the full House of Representatives.” (From My Federal Retirement publication 8/4/22)

3.  We are moving on to the Senate!  As you know, we need 60 “yes” votes. We currently have 40. It is a good time to thank your Senator for signing on to S.1302 or remind them to do so. Click on the link near the top of our homepage at ssfairness.org to make sure they are on there.  Attached to this email is a list of 13 other Senators who might sign on with our encouragement and the contact emails for their legislative aides. California retired teachers (CalRTA) has provided a link to the emails of their aides and a statement you can use, or you can write your own.  Easy and speedy!  Just click on the link and send!

4. Senators are more likely to listen to their own constituents than to outsiders, so we’re working with one of our partners to set up state-level organizing units to gather and coordinate support for repeal within their own state.  You can help! The Facebook group, National WEP & GPO Repeal Movement, is organizing this effort and connecting people from each state.  Email Peter Joyce at pjoyce1@maine.rr.com, or contact him through FB Messenger to volunteer for State Coordinator teams in this important initiative. You can do this even if you are not on FaceBook.  Just email Peter, and he will set you up with volunteers in your state!

Volunteers have been running Social Security Fairness since 2009 and our financial support from CalRTA for mailing, tech support and registration fees has run out. Some of you have have found the new “Donate” button on our Homepage at ssfairness.org, and we really appreciate those of you who have sent us any amount. Thank you!

Do check out the photographs and video from the Washington D.C. rally in May on our homepage. The rally was the fruit of our collaboration with the National WEP/GPO Repeal Task Force, and the hard work of retirees from across the country.

We are on our way!