On November 10, 2005 Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (WI) re-introduced her bill, H.R. 4298, to restore the pensions VA nurses were promised when they were recruited before 1980. Please go to the thomas.loc.gov to read the bill. All nurses, their family and friends, need to contact their own Representative in Washington to co-sponsor this bill.
Contact information is available online by clicking on www.senate.gov and www.house.gov .
Congresswoman Baldwin says, "We should encourage people to enter the nursing profession by providing them with the incentive- not tell them if they are a VA nurse, they well get less than other federal workers. My bill will right a wrong and demonstrate to future VA nurses that they will get the respect they deserve."
For information send email to: Sandy Cesnik or Mary Ann Mackin for information.
To read the presentation made at 13 congressional meetings in Washington DC in July 2005 by Debbie McKown and Sandy Cesnik , click here.
Folders with information and documentation about the pension issue were delivered each office. Judy Park, Legislative Director at NARFE, accompanied ONE members to the first two meetings which was very helpful.
Margaret Easter and Mary Klepik, ONE members, attended several meetings. Margaret and Mary generously invited Sandy and Debbie to stay at their homes. Margaret lives in Silver Spring, MD, and because of her offer to help in any way, it was possible for Debbie and Sandy to attend 2-4 meetings each day for four days.
For personal reasons, the co-creator (with Sandy Cesnik) and president of ONE, Debbie McKown, has regretfully submitted her resignation as president of ONE, but leaves it's leadership in the very capable hands of Sandy Cesnik and Mary Ann Mackin. Both Sandy and Mary Ann have worked for many years on this project and are very familiar with all aspects of it. To see resignation letter, click here.
A brochure with information about the pension issue is available for distribution. It explains what the issue is and what steps can be taken to secure new legislation. Soon you will be able to get brochure on this web site.
It can be printed on a color printer for the best effect. Change youir print option so that the brochure will be printed lengthwise and thus with two folds, will make a brochure.
Leave some brochures with copies of the petition- dentist, hairdresser, doctor, church, clubs, etc. Give them to your Friends and Family.
Recently a new nurse to our organization was told that ONE can no longer exist unless all members share the expenses. She asked what the money would be used for. It occured to us that members have no idea about how expensive this project has been for some of us.
This project has been very expensive. For over four years a few members of ONE have willingly paid many $1000's of dollars out of their own pockets, never asking others to chip in- expenses such as telephone calls, computer and fax supplies, copies, membership dues to other organizations, paper, envelopes, and postage and even 2 plane fares, must now be shared by all members if we are to continue. We have many new members to communicate with. None of this is cheap!
It does not seem unreasonable to ask that the other people who will eventually benefit, share the expenses. We are all retired and living on reduced pensions, some of us with no additional retirement income. My own mother, 90 years old, saw what I have been spending, and insisted that she contribute to the cause! Already some nurses have contributed- ranging from 5 postage stamps to $100. and we thank you. Most of us have limited funds, so please send whatever you can afford. Any amount helps. The money is going into a bank account for expenses. Mary Ann Mackin has made copies of the petitions and is mailing them to to senators and representatives in Washington-
Please send contributions to Mary Ann Mackin, 1016 Sherwood Rd., Pittsburgh PA 15221. Thank you.
A brochure with information about the pension issue is available for distribution. It explains what the issue is and what steps can be taken to secure new legislation. Soon you will be able to get brochure on this web site.
It can be printed on a color printer for the best effect. Change youir print option so that the brochure will be printed lengthwise and thus with two folds, will make a brochure.
Leave some brochures with copies of the petition- dentist, hairdresser, doctor, church, clubs, etc. Give them to your Friends and Family.
Please read the excellent article on p. 12 of NARFE's May 2005 issue of Retirement Life. Judy Park, NARFE's Legislative Director, who has worked with ONE since 2001, wrote an informative article about our complicated issue, titled "Help Wanted: NARFE Looking for Nurses". Judy has given us permissiion to use the article to inform others about what our issue is and what we are doing. So please use it!! Send it to Friends and Family, nurses who may be affected, and the media. IMPORTANT! She requests that when we do, to give proper credit where it comes from. Read it by clicking here.
A national petition signing campaign has been successfully completed and petitions were sent to the appropriate legislators.
ONE has learned that if a Chairman of a Committee writes a bill, it has the best chance of becoming law- so that is our goal now. We need a new bill such HR 972 (see it on the internet: http://thomas.loc.gov under the 108th Congress's bills), and hopefully sponsored by Congressman Buyers and Senator Craig.
We need to get our law passed this time so let's not waste this opportunity and make our calls to the Senate and House VA Committee offices. Ask what they are doing to restore our promised pensions and restore parity of retirement benefits to 1500 retired VA nurses- the majority of federal retirees and employees, including the nurses working still working on 1/23/2002 when our law was passed, get their full pensions. Less than $4 million dollars annually to help 1500 retired nurses is not a lot of money in the government's budget.
Please let Sandy Cesnik and Debbie McKown know that you are making your calls and also what you are being told. Empower yourself- you have a right to your full pension. Write and call your own legislators (find their local and Washington office number on www.senate.gov and www.house.gov) and the VA Committee. (Phone number of the VA Committees- House: 202-225-3527, Senate: 202-224-4254) The legislators want your vote and your re-election money.
Members of ONE are asked to keep ONE updated with current contact information. The object is to have a database (names, addresses, phone numbers, etc.) of all the members and to assess what work we have accomplished in the past few years, and what we can do now and in the future to have our pensions restored. Please submit the survey ASAP. Anyone who needs a copy of the survey, click here.
1. Funding for a law to restore retired nurses' pensions at the cost of $4 million in 2004, averages to $2700 per nurse annually.
2. Because the nurses are already in their 70's and 80's, there will be likely be fewer nurses collecting their pensions in upcoming years.
3. The number of nurses requiring restoration will never increase.
4. A new law could require that nurses request that their pensions be restored, or forfeit their right to obtain them. Therefore, since the vast majority of the nurses have not been located by ONE, please keep looking for them, and those that have been found, keep in touch with ONE so you can be located and notified.
5. Very important! It is necessary that the members of ONE to notify their own legislators about the cost of new legislation, or they won't know how little funding is actually necessary.
1. Debbie McKown (MA), Sandy Cesnik (WI), and other ONE members, met in Massachusetts over the past week to discuss upcoming plans for ONE. Increased proactivity by ONE was unanimously recommended.
2. The newest Congressional Budget Office estimate for H.R. 972 is now available for us to see. The funding estimated for our bill has decreased from $6 million to $4 million dollars for the first year of implementation. To see the report go to:
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=4684&sequence=0
3. The Department of Veterans' Affairs requested that Congress pass the law in 1980 (P.L. 96-330, Sec. 114) to prevent part-time physicians and RN's from "double dipping"- receiving full benefits from their pensions and full SSI benefits. ONE has discovered that the VA and Congress must have known in 1980 that part-time Title 38 employees could not collect federal pensions AND full Social Security benefits as a beneficiary- but passed the new law anyway! The Government Pension Offset (GPO) was enacted in 1977, three years previously, and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) was enacted in 1983. The WEP reduces a worker's own SSI if also receiving a government pension.
When Congress passed the laws in 1980 and 1986, the result is that part-time Title 38 retirees receive reduced federal pension benefits AND only 1/3 of SSI benefits. Thus the 1500 retired VA nurses receive a reduced pension, unlike the VA nurses who were also effected but will receive their full federal pensions due to ONE's law P.L. 107-135, and the other federal workers and retirees. The following Congresses have, to date, refused to help the retired VA nurses who have obviously been denied the financial security they too had previously been entitled to for their government service. ONE will continue its' work to fix this glaring disparity and restore the retired nurses' pensions.
ONE members want to continue seeking legislation to restore full pensions. Maybe there will be a different Congress after elections which is more responsive to their constituents. It's shameful that this issue hasn't been resolved by this Congress, considering our issue is about veterans' health care, federal pension parity, a bias against women (most VA nurses are women), disrepect for nurses (believe it or not, I was told by a VA Committee staffer that nurses are the most respected group of workers), ignoring the effects of the nursing shortage crisis, the government honoring it's recruitment incentives, Congress's use of retroactive legislation to decrease nurses' pension benefits, and essentially abuse of the elderly as retired nurses expected, and depended on receiving, their full pensions.
A Congressional staffer in a VA Committee told ONE that "retiree" issues don't elicit sympathy compared to other issues- such as veterans' educational benefits. The veterans' benefits are very important to ONE, and their care by VA nurses is one of the veterans' benefits when they are injured in wars or sick. Yikes!! Either the members of Congress have found the fountain of youth, or they are depending on the laws they pass to protect their own interests when they retire. Considering that some members themselves are veterans and/or received care in VA hospitals because of war injuries, it remains a mystery why they aren't actively helping the nurses that took care of them. They needed us then, now we need them and they aren't there for us- for example, no senator is sponsoring a bill for us despite all their rhetoric about how much they care about veterans' issues.
The legislative offices in Washington, and ONE members themselves, could use their time in other ways, but if the VA Committees force us to put this off until next year, we are committed to restoring parity with other federal retirees and the VA nurses, who will get their full pensions due to our law P.L. 107-135. Elections are coming and the legislators can win or lose by one vote, and that vote can be ours. Get out and VOTE!!
editorial by Debbie McKown
On Wednesday, June 23, 2004 Debbie McKown was to have met with Kathleen Greve, Professional Staffer, of the Subcommittee on Health of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee. Lobbyists from FEW, Janet Kopenhaver, and NARFE , Reesa Motley- McMurtry, Linda Bennett, from AFGE, were also planning to attend the meeting. The goal was to discuss H.R. 972 which is in that Subcommittee, and to work with the Subcommittee in an attempt to resolve any problems which prevent the bill from becoming law or not being funded by the Office of Personnel Management. On Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 pm, Kathleen called to say the meeting had been canceled by the head of her office.
On May 2nd, 2004 at 9am , at a Congressional District meeting was held in Madison Wisconsin, the sponsor of H.R. 972, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (WI) addressed the Convention, and also Senator Russell Feingold (WI) . Debbie McKown (MA), President of ONE, and Sandy Cesnik (WI), Vice President of ONE, and members of ONE, the Organization for Nurses' Equality.
The FEW Representative of the Great Lakes District, Sharon Roydes, attended the Madison meeting with ONE. Also, NARFE, the DAV, the PVA, and AFGE came to spport H.R. 972. There were a total of 14 ONE members. A dinner on the evening preceding the Convention of the ONE nurses and supporters gave us an opportunity to finally meet face to face. After the Convention we went to lunch to discuss that mornings events. ONE had the opportunity to publicly express our gratitude, personally and by an announcement by the Convention Director, to Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin for sponsoring H.R. 972.
Go to: www.few.org Click on Legislative. Look for the word CapWiz. Emails and letters are easily sent as they are already written, can be edited, and the web site is set up to make it extremely easy to send your opinions to your legislators. Check this one out! CapWiz even puts your message into letter form with all the addresses, etc. Look for our issue in two places as one message is for your Congressman and one message is for your Senators.
Write an impact letter. to your Congressman and Senators in Washington. Let them know how your prorated pension and the effect of the GPO and WEP effect your life. Faxing and emailing are the surest ways that it will get there, as post office security measures could delay delivery for 6-8 weeks. Please! Do this ASAP.
FEW has offered to help us. They are a 35 year old non-profit organization which works in Washington to prevent discrimination against female federal employees. Many of us are joining. Check out their web site- www.few.org
Also, check out CapWiz on their web site It will have a prepared statement in favor of HR 972 and an easy way for anyone to contact Washington elected officials. Also, CapWiz gives the opportunity to contact the media in their area- so definitely check that out! We need publicity!!
Our organization is now ONE, the Organization of Nurses for Equality. Equal Treatment for Retired VA Nurses. ONE will now be used in our formal communications to indicate our campaign members' solidarity, and intent to continue our work for the restoration of our full pensions. (12/19/03)
In order to cut down on emails, go to www.oocities.org/varnpension to find information and get updates about ONE. Because the exchange of information is so vital for our success, we will return to emails if that would be more productive. Please check the web site frequently as there is a lot happening now. Kay Wakefield's husband Ken, has offered to assist with the web site and database. (12/19/03)
Any member willing to work actively on the campaign, please contact Mary Ann Mackin or Sandy Cesnik. Some interesting projects are underway already and we're looking for new ideas. Let's divy up the work so that everyone can concentrate their efforts and have less work to do. Without member's participation this campaign will not continue, so contact us ASAP. (12/19/03)
On December 6th, 2003. President George W. Bush signed S. 1156 into law becoming P.L. 108-170, without our issue included. Tell him what you think about it, call him: 202-456-1111.
Join the others who will continue to fight for what is rightfully ours. Sign up here.
Joy Ilem, Assistant National Legislative Director of the DAV, wrote on October 17th to say that the DAV supports our legislation and that the bill is listed under the Advocacy Section of the DAV's website, at www.dav.org We now have the support of NARFE, NOVA, DAV, parts of the ANA, and hopefully AFGE. These are all very powerful organizations and deserve our support and for us to become members.
The cost of our issue is available. ë
Members of this campaign must make a committment to work together if we are to finally get our law!! In addition we must support organizations such as NARFE www.narfe.org by becoming members.
The 107th Congress ended without passing our bills to correct the wording of our bills which DID become law, however, only benefiting currently working VA nurses. Despite the hard work over the past 13 years by some of the members of our group, the Congress again chose to ignore us retired VA nurses' loss of promised pension money, which is a benefit received by nearly all other federal employees and retirees.
Whether we pursue the restoration of our pensions is up to all the nurses who live on reduced pensions. Every nurse must become involved if we are to succeed.
A letter dated April 2, 2002 has been received by at least two members of our campaign. See what the VA has written to us about this issue. Click here!
HR 3447 passed unanimously in the US Senate and House. and was signed into law as PL 107-135. Due to the interpretation of the wording of the law by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) who funds the retirement annuities, nurses who retired before the law was signed on 1/23/02, are not included.
Click here to see the letter admitting that the VA asked for the VA nurses' reduced annuities.