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Social Security: What's Ahead in this Congress?
Kim Hildred, Staff Director,
Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security
Tom Klouda, Social Security General Assistant,
Senate Finance Committee
Social Security proposals before Congress offer examples of the power of grassroots lobbying, according to two senior staffers from Capitol Hill.  Kim Hildred and Tom Klouda discussed several pending proposals and how some have been altered because of the work of NCPERS and other pension organizations in the last year.
Klouda commended NCPERS’ members for their grassroots work to revise HR 743, the Social Security Protection Act of 2003. Before passage of the bill last year, NCPERS’ members successfully encouraged revisions to address sections opposed by the public employee community. “Your voices were heard and you changed the process,” Klouda said. “Your message got through.”
 Hildred reported that there are bills pending before Congress that would impose mandatory Social Security coverage. She strongly encouraged the audience to help educate members of Congress and their staffs about the effect of mandatory coverage proposals. “These staffers are young and there’s a lot of turnover,” Hildred said. “Don’t assume that because you visited an office last year they understand the issue.”
Regarding pending legislation, Hildred said there is increasing interest in proposals to change or eliminate the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). However, concerns remain about the cost of proposed changes. Estimates range from tens of millions of dollars each to modify the GPO and the WEP, to $29 billion each to repeal them.
Hildred said House Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Clay Shaw (R-FL) may introduce a new bill on the GPO and WEP in the coming weeks, but warned that division among supporters of reform would reduce any chance of passage. “Some groups are saying ‘repeal or nothing,’ while others only ask for reform,” she noted. Unless these organizations consolidate their positions, Hildred said passage would be more difficult.
Hildred’s background includes addiction counseling, state disability claims adjudication, and various disability policy and program management positions in the Social Security Administration. She became staff director in January 1997.
Klouda works primarily on Social Security issues for the Finance Committee, where he has been a staff member since May 2000. Previously he worked for Deere & Company, co-managing the company’s short-term debt portfolio.
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