Wow! Federal retirement, and protecting it, mean hard work!

I attended my first NARFE conference earlier this week. It reinforced the idea of  just how much hard work federal retirement requires!

NARFE, of course, stands for National Active and Retired Federal Employees association. It has some 130,000 members. NARFE educates people on the issues connected to retiring from the federal government. It also advocates to Congress on several issues affecting feds. As conference wrapup keynote speaker, I wanted to get there early and soak it in.

I’d say 80% of the 450 attendees came from the “R” part of NARFE. Active feds have trouble getting official time to attend such a conference. The retirees I spoke with and heard in St. Louis seemed engaged and enthusiastic about the topics. Discussions ranged from potential repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset (WEP/GPO) to self care as you age.

Some takeaways:

On WEP/GPO repeal, NARFE Policy Vice President John Hatton expressed optimism. Bills to repeal have 62 Senate and 360-something House sponsors. He said more members of Congress have signed on in the last two sessions than in the 10 previous ones. Watch September 10 for any action to move a House bill to the floor. Nothing is guaranteed. Hatton said many members sign on to have their names on a popular cause. But they’re also fine if it never gets voted on. It would cost $15 billion a year and negatively affect Social Security solvency.

Bills to give full cost-of-living-adjustments to Federal Retirement System (FERS) annuitants are far less popular, with only eight Senate and 60 House sponsors.

NARFE continues to push the Office of Personnel Management on refunds on big premium increases for long term care insurance. Stasis remains in this market. People are shelling out for existing policies, with no new ones issuing from carrier John Hancock. (I once heard Abbie Hoffman at a a large rally on Boston Common shout, “John Hancock wasn’t a @%^&&!! insurance salesman! He was a #$%%^&! revolutionary!” The moment still brings a  chuckle.)

NARFE and many organizations fret about the return of Schedule F, should former President Donald Trump be re-elected. Schedule F make would make thousands of senior career executives employees at will. The Public Service Reform Act, Hatton said, is still out there (HR 3115 and S 1496) and would threaten merit system principles. But it has a competing bill, the Saving Our Civil Service Act (HR 1002), which would outlaw Schedule F.

Like loose tea leaves, other issues swirl around endlessly. They’re unlikely to happen but you can’t take that for granted. Hatton named proposals to reduce yields on the G Fund of the Thrift Savings Plan and raising employee contributions to the retirement plan. A Republican Study Committee has suggested ending the FERS retirement entirely.

Working feds and retirees alike worry over the eye-glazing complexities of the federal employee health benefits plans and how they blend with Medicare and various supplemental vehicles. Luckily feds have people like the encyclopedic Tammy Flanagan who understand the details and subtleties. I listened in on one of her sessions on that very topic. Judging from the questions, you could conclude the possible combinations equal the number of feds.

Beyond that, two Senate bills would remove locality pay from those who telework, and then fold that reduction into last-three annuity calculations. They have little chance of ever being enacted, but they show the range of thinking that’s always out there.

My own advice for the NARFE attendees mainly centered on savoring the work you do or did, and knowing it mattered to the country. Still, glory doesn’t pay the bills.

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