The Senate vote to invoke cloture on H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act, was approved by a vote of 73-27.  While this is a significant first step towards final passage, we now must defeat four amendments before we move to the final vote to pass H.R. 82.  The votes on the amendments and final passage are expected tomorrow.

The amendments that have been submitted for consideration are:

• Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) to require repeal to be paid for prior to taking effect.

• Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to strip the repeal language from the bill and replace with a WEP-only proportional formula change.

• Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to impose mandatory Social Security on all public sector employees (not sure if this is just for new hires or current workers as well) as an offset to the cost of repeal.

• Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) to raise the Social Security retirement age to 70 to pay for repeal.

All of these are poison pill amendments and if any of them are approved, they will effectively kill the bill. NAPO is urging Senators to VOTE NO on all amendments and YES on final passage of H.R. 82. Please continue to press your Senators to vote no on all amendments and vote yes on final passage of H.R. 82.  Together we will get this across the finish line!