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U.S. House schedules WEP hearing

IN CONGRESS: Hearing Scheduled on WEP bill! The House Ways and Means Committee, Subcommittee on Social Security, will hold a hearing on the Public Servant Retirement Protection Act (H.R. 4391) on Tuesday, July 20. NEA has been invited to testify in support of the proposed legislation.

Submit your written testimony by August 3.

AT THE NEA REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY: The 2004 NEA Representative Assembly (RA), which concluded last week, included a number of offset-related activities:

• Cadre Meeting: Approximately 40 members of NEA’s GPO/WEP cadre and the overseeing Social Security Offsets Task Force met in person and by phone on July 2 to share ideas and hear the latest news on the legislative front. Cadre members heard reports from around the country on successful efforts to mobilize members in both Social Security and non-Social Security states in support of repeal. Participants also discussed the legislative status of the full repeal legislation, as well as the partial WEP fix.
• GPO/WEP Booth: Members of the cadre and other activists helped staff a GPO/WEP information booth from July 2-7. Convention attendees were able to pick up the latest NEA materials, talk with cadre members and staff about the fight to repeal the offsets, and sign up to participate in “tell your story” tapings (see below). By the end of the RA, NEA had handed out thousands of packets, brochures, and CD-ROMs, as well as flyers explaining the new WEP bill.
• Story Tapings: On July 7, approximately 40 RA delegates participated in a “tell your story” taping, sharing their stories about the offsets and their pleas for repeal. NEA plans to compile the videotaped stories onto a CD-ROM for distribution to Congress, NEA members, and the media.
• Messages to Congress: Delegates to the RA sent some 900 messages to Congress about the offsets. Messages focused both on the need for immediate passage of the partial WEP fix as well as for total repeal of both the GPO and the WEP.
• New Business Item: The RA adopted a “New Business Item” calling on NEA to renew our commitment to full repeal of the GPO and the WEP. The NBI recognized the WEP fix as a first step, while calling for continued efforts toward the ultimate goal of full repeal.

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM TO CALL FOR GPO/WEP REPEAL: The Platform for the Democratic National Convention, drafted this past weekend, will include language stating opposition to the GPO and WEP and calling for repeal of these unfair laws!

NEW ON THE WEB: By the end of this week, the NEA Web site (http://www.nea.org/lac/socsec) will feature a “template” and worksheet allowing individuals to estimate the impact of the WEP partial fix on their benefits.

The Social Security Administration has updated its Web site and added additional information on the GPO and WEP. Included on the site (http://www.ssa.gov/gpo-wep/) is a calculator to estimate the impact of the current WEP (not the proposed fix) on benefit levels.