WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is expected to try next week to pass a Social Security-related bill to ensure benefits for workers who are also eligible for other pensions despite a surprise move by hard-right Freedom Caucus leaders to derail the effort.
It’s a quick turnaround to salvage what had been a bipartisan effort to pass the bill during what’s now the lame-duck post-election period of the Congress.
Here’s what’s going on:
The measure that would repeal the so-called “government pensions offset” has been gaining support in the House — a robust 300 lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, have signed on to it.
The bill summary says the government pensions offset “in various instances reduces Social Security benefits for spouses, widows, and widowers who also receive government pensions of their own.”
The bill would repeal that provision and reinstate full Social Security benefits.
To force the legislation forward, the sponsors of the bill, Republican Rep. Garrett Graves of Louisiana and Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia used a rarely successful process called a discharge petition.
They collected the minimum 218 signatures needed from House lawmakers to dislodge the bill from committee and send it to the floor for a vote.
The move is often seem as an affront to House leaders, particularly the House speaker and the majority leader who determine the floor schedule.
But Spanberger and Graves — who both did not seek reelection — had little to lose. Besides, Johnson backed the bill before becoming speaker.
Two leaders of the conservative House Freedom Caucus intervened when the rest of Congress was away from Capitol Hill, mostly in home states for Election Day.
The Freedom Caucus chairman Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., and former chair Rep. Bob Goode, R-Va., used a routine pro forma session of the House on Tuesday to swiftly table part of the measure.
The Freedom Caucus tends to block new spending. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would add some $196 billion to the federal deficit over a decade.
Graves said that’s the amount people are missing out on without reinstating full Social Security benefits.
In tabling the legislation the conservatives actually set back its procedural rule, but not the bill itself.
The legislation is expected to move forward with a House vote anyway, possibly in the week ahead.
That said, passage will now be tougher, requiring a supermajority threshold rather than a simple majority as had been planned under the rule that the Freedom Caucus leaders turned back.
The summary says the legislation, if approved, would repeal the provisions that reduce Social Security benefits for individuals who receive other benefits, such as a pension from a state or local government.
It says the bill also eliminates the so-called “windfall elimination provision” that “in some instances reduces Social Security benefits for individuals who also receive a pension or disability benefit from an employer that did not withhold Social Security taxes.”
If it passes the House, it’s unclear if the bill has enough support to clear the Senate. But the wide margin in the House indicates potentially broad support.
It would then go to President Joe Biden’s desk. If signed into law, the summary says the changes are effective for benefits payable after December 2023.
The U.S. Capitol is seen behind the Peace Monument, a day after Election Day, at Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during an election night watch party Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Shreveport, La. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Prized Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki says in an Instagram post he intends to sign with the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
A 23-year-old right-hander whose fastball tops 100 mph, Sasaki will join fellow Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a move many baseball executives have long expected.
The San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays were said to be the other finalists still in pursuit of Sasaki, who has until next Thursday to finalize a contract.
“I have signed a minor contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers," Sasaki's post said, in Japanese. "It was a very difficult decision, but I will do my best I can feel this was a correct decision, once I look back on my life as a baseball player. At my news conference for joining the club, I hope to wear my Dodgers uniform, feeling gratitude for all those who have supported me.”
Los Angeles has up to $5,146,200 available in its international signing bonus pool, though the Dodgers could make trades in the next week to increase the amount by up to 60%.
The Dodgers are planning to use a six-man rotation, which could ease Sasaki's transition to Major League Baseball, as the Dodgers attempt to become the first repeat champion since the New York Yankees from 1998 to 2000.
Sasaki was made available to MLB teams for a 45-day window by the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan's Pacific League under the posting agreement between Nippon Professional Baseball and MLB. Because he is under 25 and does not have six years of service time in NPB, Sasaki is considered an international amateur by MLB and limited to a minor league contract subject to the signing pools.
The Marines will get a release fee calculated at 25% of the amount of Sasaki's signing bonus.
During a news conference at the winter meetings last month, Sasaki's agent, Joel Wolfe, denied an agreement with the Dodgers was already in place. Wolfe said MLB had investigated.
“There was a lot of discussion in the media, in the league, in NPB about Roki’s situation,” Wolfe said. “There were some accusations, allegations, all of them false, made about predetermined deals, things like that. However, MLB rightly wanted to make sure that this was going to be a fair and level playing field for everyone, so they did their due diligence and interviewed numerous parties ahead of time to make sure that that was the case.”
Sasaki was 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA in 18 games last year, striking out 129 hitters in 111 innings during a season limited by shoulder inflammation. He went 7-4 with a 1.78 ERA in 15 starts in 2023, when he had an oblique injury. He has a 29-15 career record with a 2.10 ERA over four seasons with the Marines and pitched a perfect game against Orix in April 2022.
The Dodgers' first spring training workout is on Feb. 11 at Glendale, Arizona, ahead of their opening two-game series against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo on March 18 and 19.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
FILE- Japan's Roki Sasaki delivers a pitch during the first inning of a World Baseball Classic game against Mexico, March 20, 2023, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
FILE - Japan's Roki Sasak pitches during a Pool B game against the Czech Republic at the World Baseball Classic at the Tokyo Dome, Japan, March 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
FILE - Roki Sasaki, of Japan, pitches during their Pool B game against the Czech Republic at the World Baseball Classic at the Tokyo Dome in Japan, March 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
FILE- Japan's Roki Sasaki delivers a pitch during the first inning of a World Baseball Classic game against Mexico, Monday, March 20, 2023, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
FILE - Japan's Roki Sasak pitches during a Pool B game against the Czech Republic at the World Baseball Classic at the Tokyo Dome, Japan, Saturday, March 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
