Signed on as a cosponsor of H.R. 235, the Social Security Fairness Act, in the 111^th Congress. This bill would eliminate the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provisions (WEP) that limit the retirement security of more than 1.3 million federal, state, county and municipal employees and their spouses. The GPO reduces or eliminates Social Security spousal benefits if a worker's spouse has a government pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security. Likewise, the WEP reduces Social Security worker benefits based on work history by applying a less generous formula to the calculation of benefits. These provisions can significantly decrease the retirement pay of millions of hard-working public servants even though they have worked for relatively lower wages than most workers in the private sector.

Supported H.R. 6600, which would prohibit the government from printing seniors’ Social Security numbers on their Medicare cards, a practice that many lawmakers and Social Security’s inspector general consider a security risk. This bill would require the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to remove the numbers from new Medicare cards within 30 days of enactment and the government would have to replace existing Medicare cards within three years. Social Security’s inspector general warned in a report in May that displaying Social Security numbers on Medicare cards made seniors more vulnerable to identity theft.

Cosigned a letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (NY-15) in support of the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82). The letter calls on Chairman Rangel to act on H.R. 82 and address broader reform of the Social Security system. H.R. 82 would eliminate the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provisions that limit the retirement security of more than 1.3 million federal, state, county and municipal employees and their spouses.

Cosponsored The Social Security Fairness Act of 2007, H.R. 82, which would repeal both the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision. Currently, these provisions negatively affect the retirement pay of millions of public servants, including teachers and firefighters.