Social Security notch "babies"

"So near, and yet so far."

If Fred Astaire were still alive, he'd be singing that about our efforts to secure Social Security fairness for "Notch Babies" - those born between 1917 and 1926, whose Social Security benefits were cut in 1977, just as we were planning to retire.

For the past several sessions of Congress, Representative Ralph Hall of Texas has introduced legislation to right that wrong. This year he and his colleagues are closer than ever. Right now there are 124 co-sponsors of this legislation in Congress, more than we've ever had (you can see who they are here). And, there's now a Senate resolution calling for Notch Reform.

It'll be an uphill battle, but we've fought uphill battles before, haven't we? In fact, growing up during the Great Depression, coming of age during World War II, discovering a cure for Polio for our children, working to keep us ahead during the Cold War, you could say we're the generation that specializes in uphill battles!

Will you help our fight to bring this important legislation to an up-or-down vote in Congress? Please, sign our Notch Fairness Petition, if you haven't already, and contribute to our Notch Fairness Campaign to help keep this legislation on track.

This won't be easy, though, for two reasons:

First, Congress has a lot on its mind right now - mostly, how to get reelected in November, but also a weakening economy, rising energy costs, the war on terror, etc. We need to keep this basic issue of fairness in front of them every day.

Second, well, look around you, my friend. The ranks of "Notch Babies" are thinning. I think there are those cold-hearted number-crunchers who think that if they wait long enough, the "Notch Babies" will be too old and weak to be heard, and they can just forget about the issue.

Now is the time to act.

If your friends don't know what the Social Security Notch Problem is, let them know that, in 1977, with the first "looming crisis" in Social Security funding, Congress changed the rules and reduced benefits for those born between 1917 and 1926. According to our studies, the benefits that Notch Babies receive can be as much as $3,000 per year lower than other seniors born outside the Notch years.

Please, sign our petition now. Then, do two more things today:

First, please contribute, even just $10 or $15 if you can, to help us keep calling and visiting Capitol Hill to push forward this important piece of basic fairness.

Second, please send this email to your reunion buddies, your fellow parishioners, family and friends, and help us grow our list of petition signers until it becomes a chorus too loud for Congress to ignore. (The petition is open to all Americans, not just those born in the Notch Years. Your children, and their friends, can sign it too.)

I'll keep you posted on our efforts on Notch Reform and the battles we fight on other fronts to defend your earned benefits.


Daniel O'Connell,
Chairman, TSCL Board of Trustees
909 N. Washington St. #300, Alexandria, VA 22314




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