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Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Congressman representing parts of Central Texas, has filed House Resolution 987, part of a parliamentary procedure designed to force consideration of HR 147, the legislation that would repeal the two Social Security offsets that affect most Texas school employees. HR 147, by Rep. Buck McKeon (R-California) was filed in January of 2005 and has never been scheduled for a committee hearing.
H Res 987 calls for Congress to immediately consider HR 147, and is expected to be accompanied by a "motion to discharge," a petition that would require 218 signatures (a majority of Congress). This motion can be made no earlier than 7 legislative days after the resolution was filed, which should come some time during the week of September 18.
A similar maneuver was attempted in 2004, but the petition received 193 signatures, an insufficient amount to force consideration of the bill. Although the bill to repeal the offsets that year had 300 Republican and Democrat co-sponsors, Republican lawmakers were reluctant to sign the petition, which was viewed as a partisan move; a successful discharge petition essentially removes control of the House floor from the leadership.
This year's bill, HR 147, has 323 co-sponsors. It remains to be seen whether a majority of Congress will be willing to sign the discharge petition, and we encourage TCTA members to contact your Congressional representative to urge his/her support. Timing the discharge petition at a critical point in the election process may help gain additional support.
A secondary, but crucial, consideration is whether there is adequate time to move this legislation through the process if the discharge petition is successful. This Congress is expected to break in early October to allow members to conduct their re-election campaigns, and will reconvene after the elections in November and December, but that is an extremely short time frame to move a bill through the entire legislative process. However, the widespread support that would be necessary for a successful discharge petition would certainly increase the odds that the legislation could pass quickly. If the bill does not pass before this Congress adjourns, the new Congress convening in January will begin from scratch, and new legislation would be filed. Many observers predict that the composition of Congress could change considerably as a result of this November's elections; a significant turnover could mean a greater likelihood of the bill passing in 2007-08.
TCTA’s Washington lobbyist has connected some key Congressional offices that had not previously been communicating on HR 147 and H Res 987 and is continuing to work on this issue. We will keep our members apprised as any new developments occur.
TO SEND AN E-MAIL TO YOUR U.S. REPRESENTATIVE:
Click on http://www.house.gov/writerep/ to locate your representative and send an e-mail. Urge him or her to sign the discharge petition on H Res 987, when a motion is made next week. Educators in Rep. Doggett’s district should thank him for exercising the procedural maneuver and keeping a spotlight on this crucial issue.
