As of this afternoon 218 members of Congress have signed on to a discharge petition for a bill to repeal WEP/GPO, meeting the threshold that ensures the bill will come up for a vote in Congress.
“We’re so close now to repealing WEP/GPO,” says CEA Vice President Joslyn DeLancey. “With the discharge petition now ready to go we’re closer than ever to getting a full repeal, but we have to continue to press our members of Congress to vote yes on House Resolution 82.”
She added, “Thank you to Connecticut Congresswomen DeLauro and Hayes and Congressmen Courtney and Himes for signing on to the discharge petition that ensures this bill will come up for a vote. And thank you to all of our thousands of members who have emailed, called, and taken action in many different ways to move repeal forward.”
When a press conference on H.R. 82 and the discharge petition began at 9 a.m. this morning 206 members of Congress had signed on to the petition. Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger and Congressman Garret Graves filed the bipartisan petition September 10 and held a press conference today to ensure it got the 218 signatures needed.
“We are closer than ever to addressing this issue of fairness,” said Spanberger. “We are proud to lead this renewed push as we are closer than we have ever been.”
“Congress is broken and it’s in an incredibly dysfunctional place, but I love seeing what’s happened on this issue,” Graves said. “On a bipartisan basis we’ve taken on something fundamentally unjust that’s been going on for four decades. Some of the most important occupations, some of the most important contributors to our communities are being discrimination against.”
He added, “As a result of grassroots efforts we are now the most co-sponsored bill in all of the United States Congress. It’s the result of phone calls, and emails, and meetings from all these folks who have tirelessly worked on this issue.”
“I’d say to our friends on the left who say we should wait until we can pass comprehensive Social Security reform, ‘What do you think this is? This is a brick in a wall, and you can protect Social Security one brick at a time,” said Daniel Montgomery, president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. “And on the right what do I say? The federal government shouldn’t cheat people. A promise is a promise. Let’s get this done.”
“The National Education Association has fought to repeal these unjust penalties that steal what has been earned by public servants like educators and their spouses,” said NEA President Becky Pringle. “We are not stopping until we have a vote and a full repeal.”
She explained that the penalties are not only unfair to hardworking educators and other public servants but that they also damage the education profession by making it harder to attract and retain educators.
“That means that we’re hurting our students too,” Pringle said. “This is not just an issue of fairness, justice, and respect. This is about our students’ futures and therefore our country’s.”
She concluded, “It’s long past time for congress to act.”
