Alerts:  Pending Federal Legislation

YOUR ACTION IS NEEDED!

"Grassroots Activists"

Ask for ACTION!

Call Congress NOW to ask for action on HR82 & S206
The Social Security Fairness Act of 2007
Make April 22-28 a Grassroots Call-in (or email) Week!
Call your Congressional Delegation, PLUS any or all of the Congressional leaders listed below.
Ask for action on the bills to repeal the SS Offsets, HR82 & S206.
To call any congressional office:

                 1-866-327-8670

To find contact information for all of Congress plus info on bills: www.congress.gov

Congressional Leadership 2007 House:
Speaker: Nancy Pelosi (CA) http://speaker.house.gov/contact/
Majority Leader: Steny Hoyer (MD) http://www.majorityleader.gov/contact.cfm
Ways and Means: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/contact.asp
Chairman: Charles Rangel (NY)
Chair of SS Subcommittee: Michael McNulty (NY) http://www.house.gov/mcnulty/
Social Security Subcommittee Committee Members:
Sander Levine MI
Earl Pomeroy ND
Allyson Schwartz PA
Stephanie Tubbs Jones OH
Arthur Davis AL
Xavier Becerra CA
Lloyd Doggett TX
Sam Johnson TX
Ron Lewis KY
Kevin Brady TX
Paul Ryan WI
Devin Nunes CA
Senate:
Majority party phone: 202-224-4515
Finance Committee Chair: Max Baucus (MT) http://www.baucus.senate.gov/
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Also: Contact the National Education Association and ask for action NOW on the Offset fight:
President Reg Weaver = Rweaver@nea.org
Executive Director John Wilson = jwilson@nea.org

 Stay informed about what is going on with H.R.147!

GPO/WEP STATUS Starting from scratch

Background historical information on H.R.147

Title: To amend title II of the Social Security Act to repeal the Government pension offset and windfall elimination provisions.

Sponsor: Rep McKeon, Howard P. (Buck) [CA-25] (introduced 1/4/2005) Cosponsors (327)
Related Bills: H.RES.987
Latest Major Action: 1/25/2005 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Social Security.
Note: On 9/20/2006, a motion was filed to discharge the Rules Committee from consideration of H.Res. 987. H.Res. 987 provides for the consideration of H.R. 147. A discharge petition requires 218 signatures for further action. (Discharge Petition No. 109-15 : text with signatures.)
This bill died in committee with 126 signatures (six of whom signed after the election) of the 218 signatures needed to bring the bill to the house floor for a vote.  Note that there were 327 house cosponsors.  If all the representatives from states directly affected by this bill had signed the discharge petition, only three other representative signatures would have been needed to bring the bill to the floor for a vote.  The key to getting this legislation passed is to have it released from whatever committee it is assigned to. 

Where do we go from here?
Nancy Pelosi will assign a new bill on this subject to a committee.  She has the authority to assign the bill to whatever committee she wants.  Just as Speaker Hastert assigned GPO/WEP to a committee which did not report it out, Rep. Pelosi has the power to assign the bill to a friendly committee or an unfriendly committee.  

Medicare and prescription Drug Bill: The Kaiser Family Foundation has a number of resources available for use with this issue. Medicare Drug Benefit Calculator www.kaisernetwork.org/drugcalculator allows users to enter their annual prescription drug costs and predict what they might pay under the Medicare legislation passed by Congress A new chart describes out-of-pocket drug spending for beneficiaries under the conference agreement.
These and other resources are available at: www.kff.org/content/2003/rx/.

Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill - Important legislation for all women.

There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy.  It's about eliminating the "drive-through mastectomy" where women are forced to go home hours after surgery against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached.

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their web page with a petition drive to show your support.  Last year, over half the House signed on. PLEASE!!!! Sign the petition by clicking on the web site below.  You need not give more than your name and zip code number.

http://www.lifetimetv.com/health/breast_mastectomy_pledge.html

This takes about 2 seconds. PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your friends and family!