Post: MAINE teachers! Hearing on June 9 re SS offsets!

Posted by send testimony to Congress ASAP about GPO/WEP on 6/03/05

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This is the first time in TWO YEARS that we have been given
the chance to tell Congress in an official committee
hearing
just how we are affected by the social security offsets.
Puhleeze send a letter of testimony to the committee.
Directions for mailing letter of testimony to Ways and
Means
Social Security Subcommittee is at end of this mail.

Tell how the social security offset will affect you or is
affecting you, whether it is loss of personal SS, or loss
of
spousal SS. Or even if you are not affected, but know
someone
who is and how they will be affected. The more testimonies,
the better! Remember to be respectful in your insistence on
fairness.

The letter does not have to be long. Here is the
Congressional site with testimonies submitted to the
committee two years ago .... you can use for examples to
write your own. The new bills that we need passed in this
Congress are HR147 and S619, known as the Social Security
Fairness Act, to eliminate the Government Pension Offset
and
the Windfall Elimination Provision.

http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?
formmode=detail&hearing=61

ADVISORY
FROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS
SUBCOMMITTEE ON SOCIAL SECURITY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 09, 2005
SS-4 CONTACT: (202) 225-1721


McCrery Announces Fourth in a Series of Subcommittee
Hearings
on Protecting and Strengthening Social Security
Congressman Jim McCrery (R-LA), Chairman, Subcommittee on
Social Security of the Committee on Ways and Means, today
announced that the Subcommittee will hold the fourth in a
series of Subcommittee hearings on protecting and
strengthening Social Security. This hearing will examine
Social Security provisions affecting certain public
employees. The hearing will take place on Thursday, June 9,
2005, in room B‑318 Rayburn House Office Building,
beginning
at 2:00 p.m.

In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses,
oral
testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses
only. However, any individual or organization not scheduled
for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for
consideration by the Subcommittee and for inclusion in the
printed record of the hearing.

BACKGROUND:

Social Security benefits paid to Federal, State, and local
government employees who contribute to a government pension
plan instead of Social Security are affected by two benefit
adjustment provisions in current law, the Government
Pension
Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP).
While these provisions were intended to help equalize, not
penalize, the treatment of workers, many of the
approximately
one million individuals whose benefits are affected by
these
provisions believe the GPO and WEP are unfair. Legislative
proposals have been introduced in the 109th Congress and
previous Congresses to modify or repeal the GPO and WEP.

Alternatively, some have suggested that requiring newly-
hired
government employees to pay Social Security taxes would
ensure equal treatment of both government and private-
sector
employees, would eventually eliminate the need for the GPO
and WEP, and would reduce Social Security’s long-term
deficit
by an estimated 11 percent. However, such mandatory
coverage
could adversely affect the financing and benefits of State
and local government pension plans.

In announcing the hearing, Chairman McCrery stated, “As we
work to strengthen Social Security for the future, we
should
examine proposals to ensure teachers, police officers,
firefighters, and other public employees are treated fairly
under the program.”

FOCUS OF THE HEARING:

The Subcommittee will examine the history and policy
rationales for the GPO, WEP, and exempting certain public
employees from Social Security coverage. The effects of
these policies on beneficiaries and the distributional and
financial effects of options for their modification will
also
be considered.

DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:

Please Note: Any person(s) and/or organization(s) wishing
to
submit for the hearing record must follow the appropriate
link on the hearing page of the Committee website and
complete the informational forms. From the Committee
homepage, http://waysandmeans.house.gov, select“109th
Congress”from the menu entitled, "Hearing Archives”
(http://waysandmeans.house.gov/Hearings.asp?congress=17).
Select the hearing for which you would like to submit, and
click on the link entitled, “Click here to provide a
submission for the record.”Once you have followed the
online
instructions, completing all informational forms and
clicking“submit”on the final page, an email will be sent to
the address which you supply confirming your interest in
providing a submission for the record. You MUST REPLY to
the
email and ATTACH your submission as a Word or WordPerfect
document, in compliance with the formatting requirements
listed below, by close of business Thursday, June 23, 2005.
Finally, please note that due to the change in House mail
policy, the U.S. Capitol Police will refuse sealed-package
deliveries to all House Office Buildings. For questions, or
if you encounter technical problems, please call (202) 225-
1721.

FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:

The Committee relies on electronic submissions for printing
the official hearing record. As always, submissions will be
included in the record according to the discretion of the
Committee. The Committee will not alter the content of your
submission, but we reserve the right to format it according
to our guidelines. Any submission provided to the Committee
by a witness, any supplementary materials submitted for the
printed record, and any written comments in response to a
request for written comments must conform to the guidelines
listed below. Any submission or supplementary item not in
compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but
will be maintained in the Committee files for review and
use
by the Committee.

1. All submissions and supplementary materials must be
provided in Word or WordPerfect format and MUST NOT exceed
a
total of 10 pages, including attachments. Witnesses and
submitters are advised that the Committee relies on
electronic submissions for printing the official hearing
record.

2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material
will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit
material
should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit
material not meeting these specifications will be
maintained
in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.

3. All submissions must include a list of all clients,
persons, and/or organizations on whose behalf the witness
appears. A supplemental sheet must accompany each
submission
listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax
numbers
of each witness.

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