Educators from all 15 states affected by the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) flew to Washington last week to lobby for their repeal via legislation such as the Social Security Fairness Act (S. 597/H.R. 82). The bill has wide bipartisan support with 263 cosponsors in the House and 40 in the Senate.
After a briefing at NEA headquarters, Reps. Garret Graves (R-LA) and John Larson (D-CT) addressed the group on Capitol Hill. NEA retired members then held nearly 100 meetings with lawmakers and their staffs, including face-to-face discussions with Reps. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), John Larson (D-CT), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and Joe Courtney (D-CT), among others.
The GPO and WEP deprive more than 2.5 million hard-working Americans, including many educators, of Social Security benefits they have earned.
NEA’s advocacy helped achieve another important goal last week: confirming the nomination of Nancy Abudu to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit—the first Black woman to serve there. She has spent her career defending our democracy, protecting the right to vote, fighting against unlawful discrimination, and ensuring that students have access to a quality public school education.
Negotiations between the White House and congressional leaders continued as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned—again—that the U.S. government could be forced to default as soon as June 1 if Congress fails to raise the debt limit. Both President Biden and congressional leaders expressed optimism with just days remaining to reach a deal.
Let Congress know where you stand!
Marc Egan
Government Relations Director
National Education Association
Failure to raise the debt ceiling would trigger a default that leads to the loss of nearly 800,000 jobs and raises the cost of everything from healthcare to putting food on the table.
CHEER: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) reintroduced the Strength in Diversity Act on May 17, the 68th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. The bill would promote diversity in schools through a federal grant program to support voluntary, community-driven strategies.
CHEER:Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) reintroduced the U.S. Citizenship Act (H.R. 3194) to provide a long overdue, commonsense approach to solving our nation’s immigration challenges.
CHEER:Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) introduced S. Res. 209 to recognize the significance of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) Heritage Month and celebrate AANHPI contributions to U.S. history.
