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March 2005
NEW HOPE ------I HOPE
On January 4, 2005 Rep. Howard McKeon reintroduced his repeal bill HR 147 with 122 cosponsors. Today March 8, 2005 his bill has 2003 cosponsors. What makes this so significant is that in a little over two months he has almost 218 cosponsors and that is the magic number to pass a bill in the House.
WE HAVE A NEW CHAIRMAN
Remember our friend Rep. E Clay Shaw? Well he has been replaced and the new chairman of the subcommittee on Social Security is Rep. James McCreary (R-LA). We need to give him an opportunity to prove himself and that he is a fair chairman who understands the rules of DEMOCRACY. We hope he understands when a bill has 203 cosponsors he needs to start the legislative process that will enact a new bill. Remember after a bill has been 1 introduced 2 assigned a number the next steps are 3 a hearing by the subcommittee, 4 mark-up session, 5 voted on in the subcommittee, 6 returned to the full committee for hearings, 7 voted on in the committee, 8 sent to the floor of the House for a debate, 9 a vote, and if passed sent to the Senate.
At this time there is not a companion bill in the Senate.
Rep. McKeon has not given up and neither should we! Therefore may I again ask you continue to write the President asking him to help pass HR 147? Let’s remind him by repealing the GPO/WEP we would be spending that money on necessities and would further stimulate the economy. The older worker who is now forced to stay employed could retire and new positions would open up for more people to work and spend. Allowing us the SS we earned is no different than the tax cut other Americans received.
We are in a good position because there is a lot of attention and emphasis on what needs to be done with SS. Our answer is repeal the GPO/WEP and perhaps people will have confidence that their government is looking out for “the man on the street”. Write/call the President, Rep. McCrery, Rep. Hastert, speaker of the House. If your representative has already signed the repeal bill, HR 147 write and say “THANK YOU”!
President George W. Bush www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Comment line: 202-456-1111
Washington, DC 20500 Switch board: 202-456-1414
To call congress toll free
AARP # 1-800-307-8525
or
Another # 1-866-327-8670
IT’S ST. PATRICK’S CALL DAY
On MARCH 17th the NEA has set that day to call our REPRESENTATIVES and ask them to join the 203 cosponsors by signing on to Rep.McKeon HR 147 repeal bill. If you see that your representative has already signed the bill, please call or write a thank you note to him/her. Write even if they are not your Representative, trust me, your contact will carry a lot of weight.
Rep. Sherrod Brown –D
Rep. Paul Gillmor –R
Rep. Marcy Kaptur –D
Rep. Steve LaTourette –R
Rep. Bob Ney –R
Rep. Tim Ryan –D
Rep. Ted Strickland –D
Rep. Michael Turner –R
Hopefully by the next newsletter all Ohioans will have signed on to HR 147.
MORE NEWS
The Social Security Protection Act of 2004 requires State and local government employers to disclose the effect of the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset to employees hired on or after January 1, 2005, in jobs not covered by Social Security. The law requires newly hired public employees to sign a statement that they are aware of a possible reduction in their future Social Security benefit entitlement. Let us use this new law to our advantage. In our letters we can point out that these laws should be repealed since we were not notified we would lose part or all of our Social Security.
THE MEXICIANS ARE COMING:
Since 1978 the United States has entered into a Totalization Agreement with 20 countries. To name just a few, Australia-Austria-Belgium-Canada-Chile-England-Finland-France-Germany-Greece-Ireland-Norway-Portugal-Spain-Sweden-Switzerland. The U.S. signed a Totalization Agreement with Japan Feb.19, 2004 and Mexico, June 29, 2004. Once an agreement is signed it is sent to the Secretary of State and then to the President for review. The President may then transmit the agreement to Congress for review. The agreement ensures that workers who spend part of their careers in another country and pay into that country’s retirement funds qualify for full Social Security benefits in whichever country they decide to retire. Currently about $15 million is paid each month to about 94, 000 recipients under the totalization agreements. This information was obtained from a CRS report for Congress.
The following excerpts are by Alan Elsner, Washington (Reuters) Feb 14, 2005
“U.S. Social Security Pact with Mexico Faces Trouble”
“In an early test of strength over President Bush’s immigration reform agenda, some conservatives and seniors organizations are campaigning to block implementation of a U.S.-Mexico pact on Social Security. Bush must decide soon whether to send Congress the U. S –Mexico Totalization Agreement signed by the two countries last June.
Last week, Rep. Virgil Goode (VA) introduced a resolution co-sponsored by 25 fellow Republicans urging Bush not to submit the agreement to Congress. “It will be a drain on the Social Security trust fund. We have hordes of illegals here. If they get an amnesty, they’ll be able to reap a huge benefit under this agreement,” he said.” Here is another toll free call we can make-- to Rep. Goode thanking him for taking the interest and initiative to send the President the resolution.
Some of you may recall in late 2002 or January 2003 I put into the newsletter articles from Rep. Ron Paul (TX) and an article from the Washington Times warning that our State Department and SSA were planning to build a SS office in Mexico. I wrote my concerns to Rep. Portman (OH) and he said that he would refer the matter to the General Accounting Office. He did not feel illegals should receive our Social Security. Don’t you think it might be interesting to ask our representatives how can they justify a vote for a Totalization Agreement with Mexico and eventual financial drain on SS? How can they tell us if the GPO/WEP is repealed it would cost $50 billion over ten years and the fund could not handle that amount? Let’s ask if the tax cuts given last year stimulated the economy why couldn’t the same principle apply when the GPO/WEP is repealed? These Totalization Agreements are sending our money to other countries stimulating their economy and creating a deficit here. Isn’t it time to evaluate this program and allow foreign workers here to pay directly into their own country’s retirement system and Americans working abroad pay into our Social Security system? It could save us money.
I have at this time purposely avoided the subject “privatizing of Social Security”. It is too long to discuss in this newsletter. However, I would be interested in hearing your opinions on the topic. If you see articles on SS-immigration-quotes from Congressional persons send them to me.
Again I thank you for writing your letters. It worked in the past and can work again.
Sincerely,
Eileen Ryan
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