U.S. House to Vote on Repeal of GPO-WEP
The long battle to repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) has reached a critical phase. H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act, would fully repeal these provisions of law. GPO and WEP unfairly punish public service by reducing the earned Social Security benefits and spousal or survivor benefits of retirees that receive a public pension from a state that does not pay into Social Security. A discharge petition was successful earlier this fall and will bring this vitally needed legislation to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives during lame duck session.
H.R. 82 will receive a floor vote before the end of the year. Now is the time to contact your Representative and urge them to vote yes on the bill.
Click here to send your U.S. Representative a letter on this important issue:
https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/action-center/take-action/repeal-unfair-social-security-penalties
If you would like to call your representative’s office and urge that they vote yes on H.R. 82, please see the table below for a list of office numbers for the Ohio Delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives. If they are a co-sponsor of H.R. 82 (indicated in table below), please thank them for their support and urge them to vote yes when the bill is on the floor. If they are not a co-sponsor, urge them to co-sponsor and vote yes on H.R. 82.
Click here for OEA’s talking points for GPO/WEP.
To find out which congressional district you live in, please click here.
|
District
|
Name
|
Office Phone
|
Co-Sponsor
|
|
1
|
Greg Landsman (D-Cincinnati
|
202-225-2216
|
Yes
|
|
2
|
Brad Wenstrup (R-Cincinnati)
|
202-225-3164
|
No
|
|
3
|
Joyce Beatty (D-Blacklick)
|
202-225-4324
|
Yes
|
|
4
|
Jim Jordan (R-Urbana)
|
202-225-2676
|
No
|
|
5
|
Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green)
|
202-225-6405
|
No
|
|
6
|
Michael Rulli (R-Salem)
|
202-225-5705
|
Yes
|
|
7
|
Max Miller (R-Rocky River)
|
202-225-6265
|
Yes
|
|
8
|
Warren Davidson (R-Troy)
|
202-225-6205
|
No
|
|
9
|
Marcy Kaptur (D-Toledo)
|
202-225-4146
|
Yes
|
|
10
|
Mike Turner (R-Dayton)
|
202-225-6465
|
Yes
|
|
11
|
Shontel Brown (D-Warrensville Hts.)
|
202-225-7032
|
Yes
|
|
12
|
Troy Balderson (R-Zanesville)
|
202-225-5355
|
Yes
|
|
13
|
Emilia Sykes (D-Akron)
|
202-225-5261
|
Yes
|
|
14
|
David Joyce (R-Chagrin Falls)
|
202-225-5731
|
Yes
|
|
15
|
Mike Carey (R-Columbus)
|
202-225-2015
|
Yes
|
Lame Duck Session for the 135th General Assembly begins Next Week
Now that we are beyond the 2024 election, the lame duck session of the 135th General Assembly will begin the week of November 11, 2024. For a schedule of the remaining session days for the Ohio House and Ohio Senate, please click here.
Yesterday, at the Ohio Chamber of Commerce’s Impact Ohio post-election conference, a bi-partisan panel of Ohio legislators talked about what is on the horizon for lame duck and the 136th General Assembly (2025-2026). Read an article from the Ohio Capital Journal on the topics discussed by the panel.
As the lame duck session progresses, OEA Government Relations will keep you informed on the status of bills we are working on or any asks for advocacy via the OEA Legislative Watch. To find a current list of OEA’s action alerts, and where you will find future alerts, please click here.
Release Time for Religious Instruction Bill Set for House Education Committee Hearing next week
House Bill 445 will receive opposition testimony before the House Primary and Secondary Education committee this Tuesday, November 12, 2024. OEA opposes HB 445 because it violates the principle of local control. Districts can already adopt these kinds of policies if they choose; requiring districts to adopt these policies would be state overreach.
Specifically, we are asking for you to send in written opposition testimony in advance of Tuesday’s hearing. Instructions included in the toolkit.
Please use the following tool kit from our partners at Honesty for Ohio Education to find out more info about how you can take action to stop HB 445.
https://www.honestyforohioeducation.org/hb-445.html
For an archive of past Legislative Watch releases, visit the Legislative Watch archive.