The Discharge Petition qualifies H.R. 82 for a Vote!

Now we wait for more procedures …

Despite having more than 320 co-signers, House leadership has not brought H.R.82 up for a vote. The bill’s sponsors, Garret Graves and Abigail Spanberger, filed a resolution, H.Res.1410, to force a vote on the WEP/GPO repeal bill. This past week the resolution got the required 218 signers and was automatically closed. There are now seven working days before the Speaker of the House is required to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. Because Congress is about to go on an election recess, there are not enough working days for a vote to happen before Congress is adjourned for the recess. Congress resumes work a week after the November election.

If your Representative is on the alphabetical list at the bottom of this Alert supporting the Discharge Petition, please call or email a thank you, so they know we are watching.

If your Representative did not get to sign, because the petition may have already reached its required 218 signatures, please send them the statement below:

“We realize that not all of our supporters were able to sign the Discharge Petition during the few days it was available, but we know you understand the importance to public employees across this country to remove the unjustifiable WEP and GPO from the books. Teachers, police officers, firefighters, and a host of other public servants across the country are depending on you! Please stay tuned for other votes to repeal these laws!”

Find your Representatives.

Two questions were raised during the news conference linked below. The answers might be useful in refuting claims that you might hear.

Ideas opposing repeal that you may be confronted with:

1. Wouldn’t be better to wait for repeal of the offsets until there is a major overhaul of the Social Security system next year? The response was that these are flaws in the program that could easily be resolved now, apart from the needed reforms of the Social Security system.
2. Wouldn’t repeal cost the Social Security Trust Fund an excessive amount? The answer was that the Trust Fund has been enriched by billions of dollars over the years by not paying out the fully-earned benefits of millions of retirees. We shouldn’t have to find additional dollars.

The cost of repeal is not a large amount of the Social Security budget!

The Congressional Budget Office prepared a score for H.R. 82, stating that the cost of passing the legislation will approach $200 billion dollars over the next ten years.

This means the cost of repeal is nearly $20 billion per year, but that’s only 1.3% of the $1.5 trillion Social Security pays out every year. (https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/index.html)

Paying us what they owe us is not going to break the bank!

Our sponsors Graves and Spanberger had a spirited press conference Thursday morning that got attention in the press:

The Discharge Petition qualifies H.R. 82 for a vote. Now we wait for more legislative procedures after the general election when Congress reconvenes on November 12.

Great News! Shreveport Times–9/19/24 Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana said he will schedule the bill for a vote. “I proudly cosponsored H.R. 82 in this Congress and in the past because the WEP/GPO is a flawed formula that has harmed thousands in Louisiana, and as majority leader I am announcing I will bring this bill to the House floor for a vote this fall,” Scalise said in a statement to USA Today Network.

Final list of Discharge Petition Signatories by State

Signatory # / Name of Representative	State	District
Jerry L. Carl	Alabama	1
Terri A. Sewell	Alabama	7
Mary Sattler Peltola	Alaska	0
Greg Stanton	Arizona	4
Ruben Gallego	Arizona	3
Juan Ciscomani	Arizona	6
Paul A. Gosar	Arizona	9
Mike Garcia	California	27
Salud O. Carbajal	California	24
Mark DeSaulnier	California	10
Sydney Kamlager-Dove	California	37
Ted Lieu	California	36
Zoe Lofgren	California	18
Sara Jacobs	California	51
Raul Ruiz	California	25
Michelle Steel	California	45
Kevin Mullin	California	15
J. Luis Correa	California	46
Ami Bera	California	6
Jimmy Panetta	California	19
Juan Vargas	California	52
Brad Sherman	California	32
Tony Cárdenas	California	29
Mike Levin	California	49
Doug LaMalfa	California	1
Mark Takano	California	39
Robert Garcia	California	42
Ro Khanna	California	17
Katie Porter	California	47
David G. Valadao	California	22
Barbara Lee	California	12
Josh Harder	California	9
Nanette Diaz Barragán	California	44
Jim Costa	California	21
Julia Brownley	California	26
John Garamendi	California	8
Grace F. Napolitano	California	31
Maxine Waters	California	43
Norma J. Torres	California	35
Jimmy Gomez	California	34
Ken Calvert	California	41
Judy Chu	California	28
Brittany Pettersen	Colorado	7
Yadira Caraveo	Colorado	8
Joe Neguse	Colorado	2
Jason Crow	Colorado	6
Diana DeGette	Colorado	1
Jahana Hayes	Connecticut	5
Joe Courtney	Connecticut	2
Rosa L. DeLauro	Connecticut	3
James A. Himes	Connecticut	4
Lisa Blunt Rochester	Delaware	0
Lois Frankel	Florida	22
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick	Florida	20
Maxwell Frost	Florida	10
Carlos A. Gimenez	Florida	28
Darren Soto	Florida	9
John H. Rutherford	Florida	5
Debbie Wasserman Schultz	Florida	25
Bill Posey	Florida	8
Frederica S. Wilson	Florida	24
Anna Paulina Luna	Florida	13
Jared Moskowitz	Florida	23
Maria Elvira Salazar	Florida	27
Sanford D. Bishop	Georgia	2
Henry C. “Hank” Johnson	Georgia	4
Nikema Williams	Georgia	5
Lucy McBath	Georgia	7
David Scott	Georgia	13
Jill N. Tokuda	Hawaii	2
Delia C. Ramirez	Illinois	3
Nikki Budzinski	Illinois	13
Mike Quigley	Illinois	5
Bill Foster	Illinois	11
Robin L. Kelly	Illinois	2
Danny K. Davis	Illinois	7
Jonathan L. Jackson	Illinois	1
Lauren Underwood	Illinois	14
Eric Sorensen	Illinois	17
Sean Casten	Illinois	6
Janice D. Schakowsky	Illinois	9
Raja Krishnamoorthi	Illinois	8
Bradley Scott Schneider	Illinois	10
André Carson	Indiana	7
Frank J. Mrvan	Indiana	1
Greg Pence	Indiana	6
Mariannette Miller-Meeks	Iowa	1
Ashley Hinson	Iowa	2
Zachary Nunn	Iowa	3
Tracey Mann	Kansas	1
Jake LaTurner	Kansas	2
Morgan McGarvey	Kentucky	3
Garret Graves	Louisiana	6
Clay Higgins	Louisiana	3
Troy A. Carter	Louisiana	2
Julia Letlow	Louisiana	5
Jared F. Golden	Maine	2
Chellie Pingree	Maine	1
C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger	Maryland	2
Glenn Ivey	Maryland	4
Jamie Raskin	Maryland	8
John P. Sarbanes	Maryland	3
Kweisi Mfume	Maryland	7
Stephen F. Lynch	Massachusetts	8
William R. Keating	Massachusetts	9
Lori Trahan	Massachusetts	3
Jake Auchincloss	Massachusetts	4
Seth Moulton	Massachusetts	6
Ayanna Pressley	Massachusetts	7
James P. McGovern	Massachusetts	2
Hillary J. Scholten	Michigan	3
Haley M. Stevens	Michigan	11
Elissa Slotkin	Michigan	7
Shri Thanedar	Michigan	13
Debbie Dingell	Michigan	6
John James	Michigan	10
Betty McCollum	Minnesota	4
Pete Stauber	Minnesota	8
Dean Phillips	Minnesota	3
Angie Craig	Minnesota	2
Michelle Fischbach	Minnesota	7
Mike Ezell	Mississippi	4
Emanuel Cleaver	Missouri	5
Don Bacon	Nebraska	2
Dina Titus	Nevada	1
Steven Horsford	Nevada	4
Susie Lee	Nevada	3
Chris Pappas	New Hampshire	1
Frank Pallone	New Jersey	6
Bonnie Watson Coleman	New Jersey	12
Donald Norcross	New Jersey	1
Josh Gottheimer	New Jersey	5
Jefferson Van Drew	New Jersey	2
Robert Menendez	New Jersey	8
Mikie Sherrill	New Jersey	11
Andy Kim	New Jersey	3
Christopher H. Smith	New Jersey	4
Melanie A. Stansbury	New Mexico	1
Teresa Leger Fernandez	New Mexico	3
Gabe Vasquez	New Mexico	2
Michael Lawler	New York	17
Yvette D. Clarke	New York	9
Gregory W. Meeks	New York	5
Thomas R. Suozzi	New York	3
Paul Tonko	New York	20
Grace Meng	New York	6
Daniel S. Goldman	New York	10
Timothy M. Kennedy	New York	26
Patrick Ryan	New York	18
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez	New York	14
Adriano Espaillat	New York	13
Ritchie Torres	New York	15
Jerrold Nadler	New York	12
Brandon Williams	New York	22
Marcus J. Molinaro	New York	19
Valerie P. Foushee	North Carolina	4
Kathy E. Manning	North Carolina	6
Deborah K. Ross	North Carolina	2
Wiley Nickel	North Carolina	13
Alma S. Adams	North Carolina	12
Donald G. Davis	North Carolina	1
Jeff Jackson	North Carolina	14
Kelly Armstrong	North Dakota	0
Greg Landsman	Ohio	1
Shontel M. Brown	Ohio	11
Mike Carey	Ohio	15
Emilia Strong Sykes	Ohio	13
Joyce Beatty	Ohio	3
Marcy Kaptur	Ohio	9
Troy Balderson	Ohio	12
David P. Joyce	Ohio	14
Suzanne Bonamici	Oregon	1
Val T. Hoyle	Oregon	4
Lori Chavez-DeRemer	Oregon	5
Andrea Salinas	Oregon	6
Chrissy Houlahan	Pennsylvania	6
Mary Gay Scanlon	Pennsylvania	5
Susan Wild	Pennsylvania	7
Brendan F. Boyle	Pennsylvania	2
Summer L. Lee	Pennsylvania	12
Matt Cartwright	Pennsylvania	8
Christopher R. Deluzio	Pennsylvania	17
Madeleine Dean	Pennsylvania	4
Brian K. Fitzpatrick	Pennsylvania	1
Mike Kelly	Pennsylvania	16
Gabe Amo	Rhode Island	1
Seth Magaziner	Rhode Island	2
Nancy Mace	South Carolina	1
Steve Cohen	Tennessee	9
Lizzie Fletcher	Texas	7
Jasmine Crockett	Texas	30
Colin Z. Allred	Texas	32
Vicente Gonzalez	Texas	34
Henry Cuellar	Texas	28
John R. Carter	Texas	31
Sylvia R. Garcia	Texas	29
Morgan Luttrell	Texas	8
Al Green	Texas	9
Veronica Escobar	Texas	16
Lance Gooden	Texas	5
Marc A. Veasey	Texas	33
Becca Balint	Vermont	0
Abigail Davis Spanberger	Virginia	7
Jennifer Wexton	Virginia	10
Jennifer L. McClellan	Virginia	4
Donald S. Beyer	Virginia	8
Robert C. “Bobby” Scott	Virginia	3
Gerald E. Connolly	Virginia	11
Jennifer A. Kiggans	Virginia	2
Marilyn Strickland	Washington	10
Kim Schrier	Washington	8
Derek Kilmer	Washington	6
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez	Washington	3
Rick Larsen	Washington	2
Dan Newhouse	Washington	4
Cathy McMorris Rodgers	Washington	5
Mark Pocan	Wisconsin	2
Derrick Van Orden	Wisconsin	3

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