In an October 11 meeting with Congressman Garret Graves (R-LA) and Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), the sponsors of H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act, they stated their intention of calling the bill up for a vote as soon as Congress returns on November 12. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) then has two days to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. This gives us three weeks to shore up the support of the 329 cosponsors of the bill to ensure we can count on their vote when it comes to the floor.
There are several scenarios for how H.R. 82 could come up for a vote. One possible way is that House leadership could bring it up under suspension of the rules, meaning there will be no debate and no amendments, but we would need 290 votes (two-thirds majority) to pass the bill. That would mean we can only lose 39 cosponsors. If we are not successful in passing the bill under suspension, the discharge petition rules still stand, and the bill can be called up to the floor under regular order for a vote. Our objective is to get a vote on the bill without amendments. If we can keep the vast majority of the cosponsors of H.R. 82 by our side, we will be victorious.
To maintain our momentum and support, NAPO continues to reach out to every Member of Congress who signed the discharge petition and cosponsored H.R. 82, thanking them for standing with us in support of restoring the Social Security retirement benefits of millions of public servants across the county. Again, it is only with their steadfast support that we will ultimately get H.R. 82 enacted into law.
In our conversations with cosponsors, the biggest concerns we are hearing are the $296 billion price tag for the bill and the fact that it will cause the Social Security Trust Fund to go insolvent earlier than currently predicted. Our answer to that continues to be that the $296 million is not taxpayer dollars that will increase our national debt. It is the money that is being stolen over the next 10 years from public servants’ Social Security benefits. That is $296 billion that will be taken out of the hard-earned monthly Social Security checks of retired law enforcement officers, teachers, nurses, and bus drivers over the next 10 years.
As for the Social Security Trust Fund, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) latest score of H.R. 82, repeal of the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) will only cause it to go insolvent 6 months earlier. Some members of Congress were under the impression it could cut the life of the Trust Fund by a year or more, so it is important that we educate them on the truth. Further, Congress cannot continue to harm the financial security of millions of our nation’s public servants for the next 10 years just to give the Trust Fund 6 additional months of solvency. Congress must do its job and reform Social Security for the sake of all future Social Security beneficiaries regardless of the GPO and WEP.
We urge you to join us in reinforcing the support of the 329 cosponsors of H.R. 82 and the 218 Representatives who signed the discharge petition to ensure we have the votes needed to pass the bill in the House. Please reach out to your Congressional Representative(s) who are cosponsors. This link (Cosponsors - H.R.82 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): Social Security Fairness Act of 2023 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress) is a searchable list of cosponsors of H.R. 82 by state and each name is linked to the website and contact information. You can also find the contact information for staff for every office here and a one-pager on the Social Security Fairness Act here.
We are also working on the 62 Senate cosponsors and Senate leadership to ensure that the Senate will swiftly take up the bill once it is passed by the House.
Please contact Andy Edmiston, NAPO’s Director of Governmental Affairs, at aedmiston@napo.org or (703) 549-0775 if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your efforts to help us finally get H.R. 82 across the finish line!
Please see the attached PDF below for more information.
