Get Involved—Be a Change Maker

Get Involved—Be a Change Maker
By Jimmy Warden
NAPS Secretary/Treasurer

Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, was the culmination of four decades of waiting. On this date, President Joe Biden signed legislation repealing Social Security provisions impacting the retirement benefits of many police officers, firefighters, nurses, postal workers, public school teachers and government employees.

I had the honor of attending this historic event at the White House with NAPS President Ivan D. Butts, Executive Vice President Chuck Mulidore and Director of Legislative & Political Affairs Bob Levi. This signing means those covered under the Civil Ser-vice Retirement System (CSRS) who also qualify for Social Security now will be able to receive their rightfully earned Social Security payment each month. This is a great achievement as this fight has been going on for over 40 years.

President Biden stated: “The bill I’m signing today is about a simple proposition. Americans who have worked hard all their lives … should be able to retire with economic security and dignity. That’s the entire purpose of the Social Security system crafted by Franklin Delano Roosevelt nearly 90 years ago.”

While waiting to enter the White House and after the signing, the NAPS resident officers and Levi had the honor to speak with Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) of Virginia who co-wrote H.R. 82, thanking her for all her efforts. Among the other Democratic members of Congress with whom we spoke included Rep. Troy Carter of Louisiana (we offered our condolences on the recent tragedy in New Orleans), as well as Reps. Nikki Budzinski of Illinois and Marcy Kaptur of Ohio.

This hard-fought victory is a great reason why folks should be NAPS members. This is one of the many is-sues NAPS has been successful promoting and working for the betterment of its members.

There is strength in numbers! We were successful by working with folks not just from NAPS, but by joining with unions and public employee associations, including those representing postal employees. In large part, this victory can be attributed to our members attending LTS year after year and advocating for this change.

If you want to see change, you need to get involved! Our members did just that by annually advocating on the Hill and locally at lawmakers’ home offices. More recently, NAPS members used our congressional advocacy tool and emailed their representatives and senators, requesting their support in getting H.R. 82 passed.

After the measure passed the House, it was a little shaky in the Sen-ate whether it would get to a vote, but you—the members—helped push it through. Credit also must be given to Executive Vice President Chuck Mulidore, as well as former Executive Vice Presidents Ivan Butts, Jay Killackey, Louis Atkins, Ted Keating, Margarete A. Grant, Vincent Pal-ladino and Rubin Handelman. They always kept this issue on the NAPS legislative agenda. Thanks also to Bob Levi for always having his finger on the pulse of Congress.

This is a great victory for those covered by the Civil Service Retirement System who also qualify for Social Security. However, we cannot stop now. For those under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), we now need to have a bill resubmit-ted in the 119th Congress for COLA equity.

It is not fair for FERS retirees to receive a reduction in COLA compared to CSRS retirees. Milk and bread cost more for both FERS and CSRS retirees. Why should FERS retirees receive less COLA in their retirement checks? We all need to get involved!

I recently listened to a podcast by Robert Wakefield, Middle Tennessee Branch 32 president. He challenged his members by asking them to make a New Year’s resolution to attend at least one branch meeting this year. He challenged them to get involved.

I would like to challenge all of you! Attend at least one of your local branch meetings this year and see what NAPS is doing for you. If you are unaware when your branch holds their meetings, log on to the NAPS website at www.naps.org. Under

“Members,” click the drop-down box and find your branch. Once opened, click the drop-down box and click your state.

A list of branches and respective presidents is shown. Next to your respective branch president’s name, you will see their email address and phone number. Give them a call or send them an email, asking when the next meeting is because you would like to attend. Get involved!

By being a member and getting involved, you can be a change maker. And remember, increasing membership demonstrates leadership.