The NRLN urges you to make your voice heard in our nation's capital. By typing your zip code into the box at right you can access the latest Action Alert, learn more about your elected officials, see how they voted on bills important to you as a retiree, see election data, register to vote and more in the Capwiz pages.
NRLN Works To Protect Pensions And Benefits
BILL KADEREIT, president
The National Retiree Legislative Network (NRLN) is a non-partisan, grassroots coalition of retiree associations, individual retirees and pre-retirees devoted to enacting federal legislation to protect pension plans and retirement healthcare benefits.
With support from its more than 2 million members and Washington, DC-based staff, the NRLN identifies and rallies support for Federal legislation will guarantee fair and equitable treatment of retirees from the private and public sectors. Learn more about the NRLN and legislation important to retirees by clicking on the links above.
NRLN 2010 Legislative Agenda Directed To Protecting Retirees
The NRLN 2010 Legislative Agenda created by the NRLN Legislative Committee with considerable input from NRLN-affiliated retiree associations is directed to protecting retirees' pensions and benefits. Sections of the Legislative Agenda include:You are encouraged to read the NRLN 2010 Legislative Agenda to learn about the issues that the NRLN is advocating with members of Congress. The NRLN's Grassroots Network Members are vital to advancing the Legislative Agenda with their U.S. Representatives and Senators.
- Pensions Protection
- Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Reform
- Health Care Reform
- Maintenance of Cost Payments (MCP)
- Medicare
- Bankruptcy Reform
- Social Security Reform
NRLN AGENCY INSURANCE PLANS
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The NRLN Agency has added health care plans to its offerings of life insurance and casualty insurance for retirees and family members. NRLN Agency is offering health care plans as a replacement for employer-sponsored plans or for supplemental Medigap and/or other supplemental specialty coverage. |
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NRLN RECENT ACTIVITIES
Adobe® Reader® is required to view some documents. Please download it by clicking the image to the right. In addition to two sessions of the NRLN Florida Forum in Sarasota on March 25, 2010, a session has bee added in The Villages on March 26, 2010. The Sarasota Forum will be held at the Gulfcoast Event and Conference Center. The morning session begins at 8:00 a.m. and the afternoon session begins at 1:00 p.m.
The Forum in The Villages will be held at the Savannah Recreation Center. The single session begins at 8:00 a.m. NRLN and Retiree Association leaders want to hear Florida retirees concerns, respond to their questions and discuss with them the NRLN's lobbying efforts for legislation to protect pensions, benefits, Social Security and Medicare. Register yourself, your spouse and your friends today! Read more...
NRLN Update on 2010 Priorities
NRLN President Bill Kadereit has emailed to NRLN Grassroots Network members an update on key 2010 legislative issues and requested their assistance in growing the number of members in the NRLN Grassroots Network database. Read more...
PROTECT PENSION ASSETS FOR RETIREES
Companies and labor unions are lobbying Congress for temporary relief from Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) pension plan funding requirements. It is critical that NRLN Grassroots Network members immediately send the NRLN's sample letters to their Representative and Senators to tell them they need to include the protection of pension assets in any bill that is passed on pension plan funding relief. Read more...
NRLN FOCUS Newsletter - Spring 2010
You are invited to read the NRLN FOCUS Newsletter - Spring 2010. NRLN President Bill Kadereit highlights inroads being made on Capitol Hill. An article covers the events of the NRLN's Annual Leadership Conference in Washington, DC.
Marta Bascom, NRLN Executive Director, notes in her column that Congress' indecision on health care reform legislation opens the door to retirees to push harder for fairness on all issues affecting their healthcare and financial wellbeing. Bob Foresta, NRLN Vice President - Legislative Affairs, provides information on the NRLN's 2010 legislative agenda priorities.
NRLN Challenge in 2010 – Protect Social Security and Medicare
A message from NRLN President Bill Kadereit notes that after the dust settles on the national health care debate, we will be challenged to lobby harder than ever to protect Social Security and Medicare benefits. President Obama and some members of Congress have announced that 2010 will be the year when they form task forces and committees to address Medicare and Social Security. Read more...
NRLN President's Review of 2009
NRLN President Bill Kadereit shares his review of the National Retiree Legislative Network's 2009 actions on behalf of NRLN members. The Review includes:
- Health Care Reform Legislation
- Pension Protection Legislation
- needed Bankruptcy and PBGC reform
- contacts with Representatives and Senators
- NRLN Growth
- NRLN Agency's new health care plan offerings
- and the challenges ahead in 2010.
Read more...
- Health Care Reform Legislation
- Pension Protection Legislation
- needed Bankruptcy and PBGC reform
- contacts with Representatives and Senators
- NRLN Growth
- NRLN Agency's new health care plan offerings
- and the challenges ahead in 2010.
NRLN Letter Endorses Pension Bill
NRLN President Bill Kadereit has written a letter to Texas Representative Lloyd Dog
gett endorsing his proposed "Retirement Fairness Act of 2009." If passed, the bill would be a positive step toward accomplishing one of the NRLN's Legislative Agenda objectives for pension plan protections.
Read more...
NRLN Urges Congressional Leaders To Provide Savings On Prescription Drugs
The NRLN has produced a whitepaper that points out to Congressional leaders the need to pass legislation to provide Americans--especially retirees--with savings on prescription drugs. The whitepaper tells Senate and House leaders that Congress has the opportunity to bring about true health care reform, significantly reduce health care costs, and to simultaneously enable a truly competitive marketplace for prescription drugs in the our country, by passing legislation that: 1) Enables re-importation and importation of prescription drugs. 2) Enables Medicare to develop formularies and take competitive bids for prescription drugs sold under the Medicare D plans. 3) Staff and fund the FDA to reduce the generic drug approval back log and demand that all manufacturers pay fees to support generic drug testing.Read more...
MEDIA NEWS
Pressure mounts for/against healthcare bill
By Kim Geiger and Tom Hamburger, Los Angles Times - March 8, 2010
As President Obama pushes for a prompt up or down vote on his health initiative, lobbyists and activist groups on both sides of the issue have launched grass-roots and high-dollar advertising campaigns on the roughly two dozen members of Congress who may be the final swing votes on the controversial issue...Read more...
Obama takes hard-sell health pitch to Pa.
By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY - March 8, 2010
President Obama stepped up pressure Monday on his fellow Democrats to retool the nation's health care system, decrying those who put politics above policy...Read more...
'Trust' Gap Between House, Senate Dems Hurting Health Care Push
FOX News ~ Mar 07, 2010
With President Obama pushing anew to pass the health care package through Congress in the coming weeks, several House Democrats have voiced concern that the Senate could betray them if they go along and pass its version of the health bill... Read more...
Obama's health care pitch to Democrats: Trust me
By Charles Babington, AP; Plainview Daily Herald ~ Mar 07, 2010
In private pitches to Democrats, President Barack Obama says he will persuade Congress to pass his health care overhaul even if it kills him and even if he has to ask deeply distrustful lawmakers to trust him on a promise the White House doesn't have the power to keep... Read more...
Healthcare reform: 'Fixes' to bills are first major hurdle
By Gail Russell Chaddock; The Christian Science Monitor ~ Mar 05, 2010
House and Senate still have to work out tough issues on healthcare reform, including funding and abortion. The devil could be in the details – including 'fixes' House members want made to the Senate bill... Read more...
Obama to Dems: Health bill results will be seen by midterm elections
By Jordy Yager; The Hill ~ Mar 06, 2010
President Barack Obama on Saturday continued his final push to pass a healthcare bill this year as he attempted to assuage Democratic concerns that pieces of the massive measure wouldn’t take effect this year, in time to show voters tangible results... Read more...
U.S. to owe nearly as much as it produces by 2020, new CBO report shows
By Jon Ward; The Daily Caller ~ Mar 06, 2010
The United States in 2020 will owe to creditors almost as much as it produces as an economy, and interest on the national debt will grow to almost $1 trillion, according to an analysis [1] of President Obama’s budget released by the Congressional Budget Office... Read more...
Bill's funding relief may mean more contributions
By Doug Halonen; Pensions & Investments ~ Mar 05, 2010
Some employers would have to make additional contributions to their defined benefit plans to qualify for funding relief under a provision in a huge Senate tax and unemployment bill... Read more...
McCain calls for new ‘Gang of 14’ to stop Obama push on healthcare
By Alexander Bolton; The Hill ~ Mar 05, 2010
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is seeking bipartisan support to block Senate Democrats from using special parliamentary tactics to pass healthcare reform... Read more...
Ten who could decide health care
By Carrie Budoff Brown & Patrick O'Connor; Politico ~ Mar 05, 2010
At this point, a yearlong health reform effort will live or die in Congress by a few votes that go one way or the other, all in the next few weeks...Read more...
Obama lobbies wavering Democrats on health care
By Jennifer Haberkorn; The Washington Times ~ Mar 05, 2010
President Obama and top Democrats set out Thursday to thwart defections and solidify support for their health care overhaul bill, focusing on skeptical rank-and-file House Democrats antsy about voting for the unpopular measure and then having to fend off Republican attacks in the midterm elections... Read more...
Dems have trouble with health care rifts
By John Fritze, USA Today ~ Mar 04, 2010
Some oppose abortion, some are worried about premiums and some have zeroed in on taxes. But House Democrats do have this in common: They're all being heavily courted to support President Obama's health care legislation...Read more...
Obama’s Path on Health-Care Bill May Face ‘War’ in Congress
By Laura Litvan & Catherine Dodge; Bloomberg ~ Mar 04, 2010
When Republicans used a legislative maneuver called budget reconciliation in 1995 in a bid to wipe out the U.S. deficit and transfer some social programs to states, they ran into a wall of resistance. With Democrats now likely to use reconciliation to sidestep Republican opposition and try to push through the most sweeping U.S. health-care legislation in more than four decades, the 1995 experience underscores how unpredictable and acrimonious the path can be...Read more...
'Congress owes the American people a final vote on healthcare'
By Jeffrey Young & Sam Youngman; The Hill ~ Mar 03, 2010
President Barack Obama launched the endgame on healthcare Wednesday, urging Congress to “finish its work.” Obama said he believes Congress owes the American people a final up-or-down vote on healthcare reform, but did not use the word reconciliation...Read more...
Obama Calls for 'Up or Down' Vote on Health
By Laura Meckler & Henry J. Pulizzi; The Wall Street Journal ~ Mar 03, 2010
President Barack Obama, hoping to move the health-care debate to its final stages, called on lawmakers to schedule a vote in the next few weeks... Read more...
Opinion: Abuse of Power
From Review & Outlook; The Wall Street Journal ~ Mar 03, 2010
A string of electoral defeats and the great unpopularity of ObamaCare can't stop Democrats from their self-appointed rendezvous with liberal destiny—ramming a bill through Congress on a narrow partisan vote... Read more...
Activists in final health care push
By Chris Frates; Politico ~ Mar 02, 2010
President Barack Obama returned health reform to the front burner last week by releasing his own reform proposal and holding a bipartisan White House summit that gave his stalled top domestic priority a much-needed shove toward the finish line. But that momentum could be slowed this week as congressional Democrats wait for Obama to weigh in on the next step...Read more...
Obama said poised to offer more healthcare changes
By Patricia Zengerle, RNS; The Washington Post ~ Mar 02, 2010
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will offer changes to his healthcare overhaul this week, the White House said on Monday, and Democrats said they were working to include more ideas advocated by Republicans... Read more...
Health bill critics target Democrats
By Jennifer Haberkorn; The Washington Times ~ Mar 02, 2010
Advocacy groups that oppose the health care overhaul bill are taking aim at House Democrats who support President Obama's signature policy item, pouring money into television ads attacking vulnerable lawmakers in conservative-leaning districts...Read more...
With or Without Republicans, Democrats Move Forward With Health Care Overhaul
By Huma Khan, Kristina Wong & Jake Tapper; ABC News ~ Mar 01, 2010
Political strategists doubt whether there is enough support among Democrats to pass President Obama's health care legislation, even though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., expressed confidence Sunday she would eventually have enough House votes to do so... Read more...
Hoyer: Raising taxes a realistic option for cutting $12 trillion debt
By Walter Alarkon; The Hill ~ Mar 01, 2010
Tax increases may be necessary to rein in $12 trillion in federal debt, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Monday. Hoyer emphasized the need to reform Social Security and Medicare, but also made it clear that raising taxes will have to be on the table... Read more...