House Hearing Held on Social Security Fairness Act. Submit Your Personal Stories for the Record

On January 16^th, the House Ways and Means Committee, Subcommittee on Social Security, held a hearing on the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision. Peg Cagle, an NEA member from California and recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, testified before the subcommittee, giving a voice to educators’ concerns about the offsets and calling for their immediate repeal. This hearing, and the Senate hearing held November 6, 2007, represent a major step forward in our ongoing campaign to repeal these unfair offsets, and was a direct result of the pressure exerted by NEA members and other activists across the country.

Statements are being accepted for the hearing record until close of business on January 30, 2008. To submit your personal story electronically, go to

http://waysandmeans.house.gov/Hearings.asp?congress=18

and select the January 16 hearing entitled, “Hearing on Social Security Benefits for Economically Vulnerable Beneficiaries.” Then, select “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 accordance with the following rules:

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.