John,

Housing, food, and healthcare costs go up every year, having an adequate Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) is critical for workers and retirees to be able to afford these rising costs. Without an adequate COLA, hard earned pension benefits will be eroded over time and the retirement security of federal retirees will be at risk.

However, rather than receive the full COLA to keep up with inflation as measured by Social Security and under the older Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), retirees under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) face an arbitrary 1 percent reduction in their COLA in years when inflation is over 3 percent and smaller deductions when inflation is between 2 and 3 percent. This unfair penalty is compounded over several years of high inflation, placing FERS retirees farther and farther away from keeping pace with the cost of living.

Sen. Padilla (D-CA), along with Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), introduced Senate bill S. 4221 to eliminate this one percent penalty. This is the companion bill to the House effort being led by Rep. Connolly (D-VA), which currently has 32 cosponsors.

Please write to your elected officials and urge them to support the Equal COLA Act.

Our nation’s public servants deserve a secure retirement.  

In Solidarity,

AFGE

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