| Lawmakers Rise To Defense of Social Security Employees |
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| IMPORTANT:
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legislation. =================================================================== Citing serious concerns that, “federal employees are being inappropriately enlisted to promote the Bush Administration’s political agenda”, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi ((D-CA) and other lawmakers have asked the Social Security Administration(SSA) to turn over documents related to their communications and marketing plan. The letter, delivered last Friday to Social Security Commissioner Jo Anne Barnhart, cites internal SSA documents that detail plans to use the Agency’s federal employees and money to promote the Bush Administration’s plan to privatize Social Security. Those documents, including a “Communications/Marketing Plan” were the subject of an AFGE Action Alert last Friday (1/22/05) and recent articles in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times . The documents clearly state that agency employees should be enlisted to promote the Administration’s political position on the so-called “crisis” in Social Security. The lawmaker’s letter specifically points out that Congress made SSA an independent agency to protect the program from political influence. If SSA is conducting a political propaganda campaign, the letter reminds the Commissioner that it is illegal to spend any Agency funds on publicity or propaganda with a purely partisan purpose. The lawmakers ask Commissioner Barnhart to turn over a variety of Agency documents and written communications to get to the bottom of the situation. AFGE activists are encouraged to immediately contact their lawmakers and urge them to support the effort to stop SSA’s covert propaganda campaign. |
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