Social Security Fairness Plays Key Role In TFT Endorsement Of Radnofsky

[Press Release from Texas Federation of Teachers in U.S. Senate Race]

The Texas Federation of Teachers (representing 53,000 public education employees across the state) and the American Federation of Teachers (with 1.3 million members nationwide) have tried unsuccessfully and repeatedly to gain the support of Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to gain passage of the Social Security Fairness Act, which repeals the unfair cut of social security benefits for many Texas public school employees and other public employees across the nation.

“It is a cruel irony that spouses who have never worked receive full spousal benefits under Social Security, while those who had to work, and worked in public employment, are denied spousal benefits,” said Linda Bridges, Texas Federation of Teachers (TFT) president.

Hutchison has not supported the major goals of the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 147 and S. 619), which would repeal two key and costly offsets— the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). While these Social Security benefit reductions may have been intended to curtail payments of windfall benefits to highly paid individuals, in practice they have had devastating consequences for low- and middle- income public employees.

The GPO reduces a Social Security survivor’s benefit by two-thirds of his or her public pension that is not covered by Social Security — wiping out the survivor’s benefit entirely for many workers. The WEP currently can take away up to $306 a month of Social Security benefits earned by a state or local public employee who has contributed to Social Security for as many as 20 years, and the WEP does not phase out completely until a worker has 30 years of covered Social Security employment.

Besides being unfair to those who have paid into Social Security but are being denied its full benefits, these provisions have perverse effects. By targeting pensions of teachers and other school employees, these Social Security benefit cuts discourage qualified individuals from entering the classroom–at exactly the time when our nation faces a severe shortage of such people.

Sen. Hutchison also has consistently voted wrong on other key votes backed by the Texas Federation of Teachers and American Federation of Teachers. “We’ve tried unsuccessfully to get Sen. Hutchison on board for legislation that improves public education and entices new teachers to enter the profession,” Bridges said. “Unfortunately, we’ve gotten nowhere, and so we have endorsed Senate candidate Barbara Ann Radnofsky, who has pledged to fight for Social Security fairness.”

Radnofsky is a mother, wife, volunteer teacher and mediator who has championed education. “When we look at education issues, the clear choice is Radnofsky,” Bridges said.

The Texas Federation of Teachers represents more than 53,000 teachers, paraprofessionals, support personnel, and higher-education employees. TFT is affiliated with the 1.3 million member American Federation of Teachers.