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The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents July 2025 The Long-Term War on Social Security Steve Bauck In last month’s Retiree Advocate, Steve Kofahl described the devastating impact of staffing cuts and rules changes on Social Security beneficiaries. While newly implemented, they are part of long-term attack on Social Security. In 1983 the Cato Institute produced an article titled “Achieving a Leninist Strategy”. It called for “guerrilla warfare against both the current Social Security system and the coalition that supports it.” The long-term goal was to shift the $1.5 trillion we pay into Social Security each year out of Social Security and into IRA or similar private accounts. Their strategy has had considerable success in reducing confidence in the fiscal soundness of Social Security. An April 2025 poll by the AP and University of Chicago found that 52% of those surveyed were not confident that Social Security benefits would be available when they need them. The Social Security staffing cuts have nothing to do with reducing the federal deficit or debt. Social Security is completely self-funded. Administrative costs, including staffing, come from the contributions we make into Social Security. Currently administrative expenses for Social Security amount to a miniscule 0.9%. Were administrative expenses to be raised back to 1.26% where they have historically been, SSA could have the full staffing it needs to adequately serve the public and it wouldn’t impact the federal budget at all. But the cuts do serve the purpose of eroding confidence in Social Security’s ability to deliver benefits to those who have earned them. They are also likely to cut costs by deterring deserving beneficiaries from accessing their benefits. Similarly, the DOGE theft of Social Security personal data in the name of rooting out fraud has nothing to do with saving billions in fraudulent Social Security payments. DOGE has not been able to demonstrate that there is fraud because it is almost nonexistent in Social Security. A recent Social Security oversight report found an “improper payments” rate of 0.3%. They noted that only a sliver of that low rate is due to fraud. The focus on fraud reinforces the idea that Social Security is an entitlement program giving benefits to undeserving beneficiaries who haven’t earned them and that the federal government isn’t competent to administer the program. The data is also being used as a weapon by declaring people to be dead and thus denying them access to employment, banking and virtually all economic activity in the country. When we first start working, we don’t know when we are going to retire, how long we will be retired or what financial resources we will have. We also do not know if we are going to become disabled and unable to work (only a third of workers have disability insurance be- side Social Security Disability) or if we will die young and leave dependents without a source of income. Social Security is not a retirement savings program, it is an insurance program. Our contributions are pooled to ensure that all covered workers have a monthly benefit in all these situations. Although by law Social Security can never go bankrupt, there is a future funding issue. In 1983 the stagflation of the 1970s caused a funding crisis for Social Security. It was solved primarily by benefit cuts. Projections indicated that the changes would take care of all future needs. What was not anticipated at the time was the theft of wages over the past 40 years. Almost none of the gains in productivity have gone to workers. Currently the Social Security Trust Fund surplus built up to provide for the surge of baby boomer retirement is projected to be depleted in 2033. This is not a new issue. It has been known for over 30 years. There will need to be either a 21% cut in benefits or an increase in revenue. Overwhelming majorities of Americans favor increasing revenue over benefit cuts. The most obvious source of additional revenue is to “Scrap the Cap” and make those who have received most of the gain in productivity pay their fare share. Currently wages above $176,100 are not taxed for Social Security. Had the cap been eliminated 30 years ago when the looming funding issue was first identified it would have solved the entire problem. It would still solve a large portion of the problem and is essential to any realistic plan to avert benefit cuts. We need to counter the assault on Social Security by exposing the lies that have eroded confidence in Social Security’s future and insist that the rich pay their fair share by scrapping the cap. Steve Bauck is Co-Chair of PSARA's Social security Task Force and a member of PSARA's Executive Board. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents February 2025 Views from the Screen A Review of "A Real Pain" Randy Joseph Film Title: A Real Pain 2024, Directed by Jesse Eisenberg Cast: Jesse Eisenberg as David; Kieran Culkin, Golden Globe winner for his characterization of Benji. Also includes Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy and Daniel Oreskes. Spoiler alert. But it doesn’t matter – this review may help. A good reader is a re-reader, says author and teacher Vladimir Nabokov in his “Lectures on Literature.” I believe the same goes for film. In anticipation of writing a few notes on the movie “A Real Pain” I watched it a second time at home – slowly. I took notes and was able to pause, rewind, and revisit scenes multiple times. A second viewing gave me the ability to hear the tender plaintive piano music of Polish composer Frederic Chopin, which gently holds us throughout the film – mirroring the energy and mood of the story. I loved the film the first time. But the second slow time gut-punched me with dialogue and nuance I originally missed while gulping down the plot. Wikipedia calls it a buddy comedy-drama. Are they kidding? I mean, yes…but no. This is a story about pain and love and loss and the unending human struggle. And a sad story about love between cousins who were like brothers and are now quite different and apart. And a yearn- ing for how things used to be. It is dead wrong to think this is a holocaust film or, as one reviewer quipped, a holocaust comedy. Yes, there is a tour of the Majdanek concentration camp outside of Lublin, Poland. Yes, there is a visit to a Jewish cemetery and poignant views of the Jewish neighborhoods that were once so vibrant with Yiddish conversation, commerce, theatre, poetry, and music. But that is a backdrop – a heartbreaking backdrop to the melody of the love and loss story of two cousins who have been bequeathed a visit to Poland to visit the childhood home of their grandmother, Dory. David and Benji had been very close as children. That is gone now and Da- vid, a nervous, anxious rule follower – successful in outward appearance with career and family – has found it very difficult to be around the chaotic, rebellious, angry, and often miserable yet charming, generous, and loving Benji. He loves him but can no longer tolerate the craziness. Benji deeply misses the closeness and the purpose in life he used to have protecting and soothing David. Their childhood love fuels the conflict and the plot. Benji is hard to describe. He can immediately connect to people and not only charm them but get to their core and bond at a deep emotional level. David’s social skills are much weaker, and he is often awkward and alone. As charming as Benji is, he can turn on those same people in a second with aggression, anger, mocking, and generally horrible alienating behavior. The two moods seem to be tied together push- ing and pulling inside of him. Clearly Benji is damaged in some fundamental way. We don’t get a good understanding of why, and I wouldn’t presume to diagnose. But the film questions whether their collective anxiety and misery is generational trauma, individual psychological differences, and/or simply the human condition. You come to learn just how lost and suffering Benji is. He has recently lost his beloved grandmother (“She was the only person that stuck with me – every- one else left me when I needed them most”), and he lost David a long time ago. He feels abandoned by David and tells the tour people how it used to be. How important he used to be in David’s life. Benji tells the group, “This is the guy I used to have all to myself. David cried for a week at overnight camp, and I held him in my arms soothing him with tales of his sweet mother.” “What happened to you David? You used to cry all the time.” David’s retort, “How is crying all the time a good thing?” David, on the other hand, has man- aged to corral his anxiety and pull a life together, partly by distancing himself from the difficult Benji. We watch as Benji becomes increasingly more difficult, blaming David for his own lateness, berating David for being a wimp back in the day and now. Daring David – almost forcing him – to hide on the train without a ticket and to break through doors that say Don’t Enter. It’s torture for David, yet exhilarating too. It always was. Benji becomes almost impossible to be around. He is A Real Pain. Yet at the same time, through his loud and unbearable truth telling, he enriches everyone’s experience on the tour. On the train to the camp, he completely freaks out and lambasts everyone for calmly eating fancy food and happily sitting in first class on the very same train tracks where their ancestors were thrown onto the trains almost naked, sick, and miserable. The problem with Benji is that he doesn’t just pose the question. He makes a huge scene shaming everyone and dramatically throws himself into third class. But it isn’t a performance. He is a truth teller, and he can barely stand what he sees as the complacency of the others who don’t have his deep feelings. Admirable in so many ways – but destructive. He loses people but has no control over his behavior. In a pivotal scene in a restaurant, the cousins talk about their grandmother, Dory, who always said she survived the Holocaust due to "a thousand miracles." Benji breaks down with grief, lashes out at everyone, and walks out of the restaurant loudly and repeatedly burping so the whole restaurant can hear. It’s David’s turn to break down. In what should have been an award- winning scene, David lets loose when a tour member says, “He’s clearly in pain.” David whips, “Isn’t everybody in pain? Look where our families came from – isn’t everybody wrought??” Another tour colleague says, “Well YOU seem ok David.” David sobs, “I’m NOT! I take pills for obsessive compulsive disorder, I jog, I meditate. I move forward because I know my pain is not exceptional. I don’t want to burden everybody with it (like Benji). David continues sobbing, “I am exhausted by Benji. I love him I hate him I want to kill him I want to BE him. He is so fucking cool and doesn’t give a shit what people think.” He then reveals to the group that Benji is only six months away from having attempted suicide. David is livid with grief and anger at the thought. “How did the product of a thousand miracles overdose on a bottle of sleep- ing pills. (crying) I don’t want to lose him.” The next day, alone with Benji, David tells him that he doesn’t want to lose him. He compares himself to Benji. “Do you see how people love you? When you walk into a room? I would give anything to know what that feels like. To have charm. You light up a room, and then you shit on everything inside it.” In the last scene we see the cousins in the New York airport at the end of their odyssey. They cling to each other. David leaves and reunites with his wife and child. Benji sits down in the crowd- ed airport alone. Isolated in his pain. The future for them is questionable. Watch this movie…Twice. Randy Joseph is a member of PSARA < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents September 2025 Philippines Remains Trump’s Ally Cindy Domingo While Donald Trump and his foreign policy team continue to strain relations with countries around the world, US-Philippine relations were further strengthened in the recent state visit to Washington DC by Philippine President Bong Bong Marcos in late July. The visit comes at a very important political time, as Trump’s war against China continues to escalate and the US vies for political power in the Asia Pacific region. Marcos is the first Southeast nation president to visit the US during Trump’s second term. Marcos’ close relationship is a 180-degree turn from the previous Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte strengthened bilateral Philippine-China relations that resulted in concrete China support during the Covid-19 pandemic, increased economic trade and investments, and Chinese- funded infrastructure projects. It remains to be seen if Marcos’ friendly relations with the US will help bolster his popularity amongst the Philippine population. Midway into a six year term, Marcos’ popularity, according to the well-respected Pulse Asia March/April survey, has plummeted to 25% approval rating, 53% disapproval, and 22% no opinion/undecided. In the same survey, Marcos’ arch enemy and embattled Vice President, Sarah Duterte, received a 59% approval rating – an increased rating many believe is related to online and in-person organizing related to the opposition of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest of Rodrigo Duterte. The elder Duterte is currently being held in the ICC’s jail awaiting trial for crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, and torture, as related during the period of November, 2011 through March 2019 as pertaining to Duterte’s “war on drugs.” The fallout between the Marcos and Duterte camps are important for US strategic interests in the Asia Pacific region. Since the beginning of US intervention in the Philippines in 1898, the Philippines became important because of its military positioning to that entire region. Under BB Marcos and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), the US has established more US military facilities in the Philippines, including the deployment of missile systems, even though there are no more military bases there. Marcos’ pro-US stance is important for Trump’s aggressive position against China. The recent May Philippine elections reflect a divided country with a newly elected Philippine Congress mainly divided into those two camps. However, a new progressive camp has begun to emerge, breathing hope for democratic economic and political reforms in the Philippines. Led by the only opposition leader in the Senate, Senator Risa Hontiveros from the social democratic Akbayan Party, has succeeded in building a big tent that resulted in the election of three members of the Akbayan Party to the House of Representatives as well as a handful of well positioned members from the liberal and independent parties. These include former Senator Leila De Lima who was imprisoned for seven years by Rodrigo Duterte after she led a Congressional investigation around murders carried out during his war against drugs. This progressive camp has already introduced many democratic reform Congressional bills, but their footing is fragile in light of the dominance of family dynasties as represented by the Marcos and Duterte families. In the previous 19th Philippine Congress, 12 of 24 Senators, 162 of 316 Representatives and 60 of 81 governors were members of political dynasties. It is common to see in one region Congressional members, governors, and mayors from one family representing different generations and jockeying from office to office if there are term limits. The current 20th Congress is almost no different. Therefore, in such a political environment, advancing a progressive agenda still remains a serious challenge. The political dynasties may differ in region and ideology, but they are united by a common interest in pre- serving the status quo. Previous bills to dismantle the family dynasties have met with great resistance, but there is an increasing interest by a new generation of voters. Currently, Millennials and Generation Z compose 63% of the voting population in the Philippines, with the median age of the general population at 26 years of age. According to Josua Mata, Secretary General of SENTRO, a labor center that represents over 100,000 public, private, and informal sector workers, who was in Seattle recently for LELO’s Annual Dinner in June to receive an award for SENTRO workers organizing in a fac- tory making Lululemon wear, stated that the continued growth and revitalization of the Philippine labor movement is crucial to taking advantage of this current opening for progressive forces and deepening democracy in the Philippines. While Trump can continue to rely on the Marcos dynasty to carry out US interests, the next three years leading up to the Philippine Presidential elections will be crucial for US military and economic interests both in the Philippines and in the region. However, if the progressive forces led by Senator Hontiveros can gain momentum, the traditional family dynasties might be facing Hontiveros as a Presidential candidate. Cindy Domingo is one of PSARA's Co-VPs for Outreach, a member of the Retiree Advocate editorial board, and a veteran activist in LELO (Legacy of Equality, Leadership & Organizing) and APALA (Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance). < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents July 2025 4,000 Attend No Kings Event at People’s Park, Tacoma! John Alessio Our Vote, Our Choice, Our Power, Our Voice!” “Power to the People, We Insist-Billionaires Should Not Exist!” “Say it Once,Say it Twice, We Will Not Put Up With ICE!” These are just a few of the chants heard at People’s Park Saturday, June 14th. PSARA joined Indivisible Tacoma and many other organizations to create an informative, riveting, and festive event on “No Kings Day”. Other participating groups were: 350 Tacoma; AF- SCME Council 28; Evergreen Resistance Tacoma; Black Panther Party, The TSM Shop; Jewish Voice for Peace Tacoma; La Resistencia; Rainbow Center; The Tacoma Urban League; LD27, LD28, and LD29 Democrats; Oscar’s Enemies; Pierce County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO; Pierce County Immigration Alliance; Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America; Tacoma Fellowship of Reconciliation; Tacoma for All; Tacoma Veterans for Peace; The Conversation 253; Washington Wildlife First; and United Food & Commercial Workers Local 367. Careful planning included meetings and continuous communication between the leaders of many of these organizations to assure a safe and meaningful protest of the Trump administration’s immoral and unconstitutional activities. Preparation included de-escalation training sessions that resulted in a roaming Safety Team during the event. A First Aid Sation was created, with drinking water, snacks, and other relevant supplies. Various groups had their own information booths, plus a booth for sign-making, and even a face painting booth. People’s Park was humming with excitement and enthusiasm. Four thousand people, peacefully demonstrating, were completely rapt for two and a half hours listening to inspiring speeches about what is being done, and what still needs to be done, to stop Trump and his minions from destroying our democracy and inflicting more grievous harm on large segments of our population. The event started and ended with lively protest music, and there were clever chants interspersed throughout. The importance of local elections was emphasized, and people were encouraged to get involved by door-knocking, providing support to progressive candidates, and especially voting in the upcoming 2025 Primary on August 5 and again in the General on November 4th! Action events were announced, such as a June 18th “Door-Knocking for Introverts” to help people become effective doorknockers. On July 9th Indivisible Tacoma endorsed candidates will participate in a Candidate Forum at 6:30PM at Tahoma Unitarian Universalist Church, 1115 So. 56th, Tacoma. La Resistencia and others will continue to strategize and call for united actions against the activities of ICE and the Northwest Detention Center - a critical court hearing is set for September. Some people may want to attend the “Breakfast With the Sheriff” meetings to remind Pierce county Sheriff Keith Swank that Washington state laws protect people from unconstitutional harassment and arrest. The next scheduled breakfast is 7-9AM Saturday, June 21st. We know he would love to see us. A Facebook message to a friend read: “I was at People’s Park with my brother who is blind and paralyzed on his left side. We had the best day. He felt part of society.” That statement captures the mood and inclusive spirit of the Tacoma “No Kings Day”. Let’s keep it going! John Alessio is a member of PSARA and Indivisible Tacoma. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents December 2025 Federal Employees Shutdown Nightmare Steve Kofahl I write this article two days before Veterans Day, when we honor the service of our military veterans. Well over 300,000 of them, who serve their country again as civilian federal employees, have now gone a record 40 days without pay. That’s no way to show respect for their past and current contributions, or for the service of their co-workers. About two of every three federal workers, veterans included, have been going without pay,1.4 million out of a 2.1 million person workforce. Some 670,000 are furloughed and not working or receiving pay, while 730,000 excepted (essential) employees continue to work and are likewise unpaid. Some money has been moved around by the administration to temporarily pay some law enforcement personnel and active military members. On November 4, the Trump Administration sent a message to federal workers, threatening to deprive them of back pay when the shutdown ends, in contradiction of a 2019 bill, signed by Trump , that assures payment to these workers after future shutdowns end. This is just the latest show of disrespect in a year that’s been full of them. Like many other workers, too many federal employees live paycheck to paycheck. About 350,000 federal workers make less than the $62,000 median national salary. Federal employees have family members who may well be dependent on them -- children, partners, parents, and others. A lot of collateral damage is being done to family members, and also to local businesses in large and small communities across the nation. It’s been exceedingly difficult for federal employee unions to mitigate the harm to excepted employees, who are not eligible for unemployment benefits, or allowed to convert to temporary employment with their agencies. In severe hardship situations, requests for any adjustments are subject to approval by management. These include requests for leave without pay, requests for use of earned leave benefits, and requests for the ability to work at home “episodically” to limit transportation expenses and/or to be available to another household member. Union stewards are kept busy providing guidance, and filing grievances in response to unreasonable denials. We are hearing heartbreaking stories from the frontlines, where frustration and tears are all too common, and mental health breakdowns and suicides are growing concerns. Employees are visiting food banks in growing numbers, often for the first time in their lives. They are selling personal and household items, using credit to pay their bills, and taking out loans from their retirement accounts and financial institutions. Repaying student debt is a huge problem. Working a second job to pay the bills is officially discouraged and subject to management approval. The non-profit Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund offered $150 microgrants until their $1 million fund was tapped out a few weeks ago. Federal employee unions have suffered massive loss of membership, staff, and resources at the worst possible time, thanks to the anti-union attacks they and their members are enduring. Nonetheless, at all levels, organized labor is providing guidance, training, and information about available resources. The Washington State Labor Council (WSLC) stepped up by conducting a pair of virtual training events last month, with WorkSource and the Washington State Employment Security Department as partners in the presentations. They also posted a moving October 29 story in The Stand , entitled "It Feels Like I Can’t Stop the Bleed," in which State Department of Health employee Milo Nicholas tells what happened to him when the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) was included in the shutdown. He was temporarily laid off by the state, because his work was funded by WIC, and had to borrow from his mother to pay his rent. A Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) Local 443 Vice President and Shop Steward, Milo tells a compelling story. Had he been one of the Federal employees working on WIC, he might have been understandably afraid to tell his story. In the article, the WSLC recommends that donations to union families be made to the Foundation for Working Families, which can donate up to $500 per union member. With 45 million Americans losing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding, including 900,000 Washingtonians, there is a desperate need that can only be met by well-funded food banks. More and more, federal employees are among those in need of food. Please be generous, and show patience and compassion when dealing with federal workers who are under attack. Steve Kofahl is a retired President of AFGE 3937, representing Social Security Workers, and a member of PSARA's Executive Board < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents June 2025 PSARA Position Paper on Immigration PSARA Board The US has failed to articulate a coherent and just immigration policy. Now, under the current administration, even the meager protections we have for those who come from outside US boundaries are being stripped away. The Trump administration has engaged in new levels of cruelty against immigrants – terrorizing people, shackling them in chains, deporting them to countries other than their own, and undertaking these acts regard- less of the person’s citizenship or paperwork status. The administration is threatening sanctuary cities and states with funding cuts, mobilizing the military and national guard to engage in the apprehension of migrants, and seeking millions more in funding for this war on immigrants. They have allies in our state among many county sheriffs who are flouting our “Keep Washington Working” law and using their local law enforcement officers to assist ICE. Everything else being equal, people don’t choose to migrate. Most of us prefer to remain with our families, on the land in which we’ve been raised, and in the culture with which we’re familiar. Yet, huge numbers are migrating for a number of reasons. They are forced to migrate because of brutal conflicts, rampant lawlessness and criminal violence in their home countries, a lack of safe, well-paying jobs, crop failures and food scarcity, and increasingly severe climate disasters. In our country we now have more than 200 jails and prisons for immigrants. Approximately 90% of detained immigrants are held in private detention centers. The current Trump regime has announced plans to build many more. PSARA, takes the following position on the attack on immigrants: We will follow the lead of immigrant rights groups locally, working to support their efforts toward defending and strengthening rights, protecting those being targeted, and securing sanctuary. We welcome all migrants and fight alongside them for housing, healthcare, living wage jobs, and public education, among other things. We emphatically oppose repression, detention, deportation, and the racist attacks to which migrants are being subjected. We act from a commitment to joining hands in respect and solidarity to build a new – and more just – Beloved Community. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents January 2026 Building Community Power Jay Stansell (Reprinted by permission of the Jewish Coalition for Immigrant Justice) While we have all become accustomed to the workshop labels "Know Your Rights" and "KYR," what we really need to teach each other is our collective "Community Power." Though mechanics of KYR remain key, when we invoke those rights today we will likely face illegal ICE response. Knowing our rights is no longer enough. We now teach and celebrate the Community Power that gives strength to our rights. Community Power strengthens each of us and invites others into our work, so that not one, but many, allies and at-risk Community Members come out to nonviolently face, expose and slow ICE enforcement; so that not one but many activists come out to video-record ICE, send text alerts to neighborhood watch groups; so that we speak to agents in large numbers but one voice: "We don't answer questions! Don't open your doors, ICE is present! You are not welcome in this space, in this community! We want you out of here!" And Community Power expands and grows the resistance. Each one of you has someone for whom you are a role model and an example of how to respond to the darkness around us all. Each of you has many more people who look to you for advice, knowledge and information about the challenges we face. We can bring these family, friends, and colleagues into the movement, and keep building our communities of care, compassion and resistance. The propaganda from ICE and the government wants us to believe that ICE is at war with the "worst of the worst" in our communities, that their numbers are so massive and armored that resistance is futile, when we, the people who live in these communities, know that they are attacking day-care workers, health care aides, roofers, landscapers, and the families that we see, respect and value every day. We train each other in Community Power, because there is strength, beauty and poetry in Community. We are many -- and growing more each day -- and the cruel and uncaring people in power right now are far fewer in comparison, and far less powerful than they believe. Thank you all for the work that you each do. It is a privilege to be among you in the effort to rebuild a better world. I'll close with some words from long-time activist Cleve Jones who spoke at San Franciso's No Kings rally on October 18, which perfectly capture how I view community: The pronouns I use the most are the ones probably understood the least by those in the White House today. They are WE, US and OURS. We are in this together. And it is up to us to be the leaders we need to save our country and our democracy. [...] What will you do to imagine and launch and sustain the massive campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience and non-cooperation that history informs us is now required? Look to your hearts and find the abiding strength that dwells there. Look to the sky and all the magnificent beauty that surrounds us still. Look to those who stand proudly at your shoulders. Look to your ancestors and claim your future. We are the people. Now is the time. This is the moment. Jay Stansell is a retired immigration attorney who has led Know Your Rights trainings with the Jewish Coalition for Immigrant Justice. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents September 2025 Washington State Labor Council Says No Cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security Labor Campaign for Single Payer Referred to WSLC Executive Board At its 2025 convention held in Vancouver, WA, July 22-24, the Washington State Labor Council (WSLC) voted unanimously to fight cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and to oppose the WISeR pilot program to expand prior authorization in Original Medicare. The vote came on a resolution drafted by PSARA and also endorsed by RPEC, WASARA, AFGE 3937, AFSCME Council 28, AFT Washington, SIEU 775, SIEU 1199NW, MLK Labor, Pierce County Central Labor Council, APALA Seattle, and Pride At Work. By passing the resolution, WSLC pledged that the Labor Movement in Washington will participate in the fight to stop the cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security and the additional attacks on these programs, that the Labor Movement in Washington will participate in the fight to halt the privatization of Medicare by supporting leveling the playing field between Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage, that the Washington State Labor Council will send a letter to the State’s Congressional delegation urging them to oppose all cuts to Medicaid, Medi- care, and Social Security, the firing of workers and attacks on the administration of the Social Security program, the proposed expansion of prior authorization, and private profiteering in the Medicare program, that the Washington State Labor Council and its affiliates will help educate their members about the dangers of these attacks to the lives of all working people, children, and seniors and what they can do with their unions and allies to resist these attacks. WSLC represents more than 650 local unions and other labor organizations and more than 600,000 workers. Their commitment to fight cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and expanded prior authorization in Original Medicare adds a powerful voice to our campaign to save our safety net programs. As the WSLC resolution noted, “these three programs are foundational to the lives of not only union members, but all working people, children, and seniors…” WSLC also recognized that “these attacks are designed to fund tax breaks for wealthy individuals and corporations in our country, to increase corporate profits and to undermine the functioning of these federal programs…” The WISeR pilot program to expand prior authorization in Original Medicare is particularly egregious because it would pay private companies to review the medical care of Medicare beneficiaries and pay those companies on the basis of how many procedures and services they denied. In other words, WISeR incentivizes denial of health care. In action on a second resolution supported by PSARA, the WSLC voted to “urge our federal and state legislators to enact legislation that embodies the principles of a universal single payer healthcare system…” The AFL-CIO has not endorsed the Medicare for All Act of 2025 – even though it is endorsed by 10 national and international unions – or the State Based Universal Health Care Act, and therefore the convention’s Resolutions Committee deleted explicit references to them from the resolution. PSARA does support these proposed bills, and we believe they each embody the principles of a universal single payer system. We will continue to press for their adoption. In the resolution, the WSLC also voted to refer the question of actually joining the Labor Campaign for Single Payer to its Executive Board. Labor Campaign for Single Payer is a coalition of 15 national or international unions, 8 AFL-CIO state federations, 5 central labor councils, and 8 state and local unions. Its aim is summed up on its website: “The Labor Campaign believes that we will win healthcare for all when the labor movement commits all of its re- sources and organizing capacity to the fight for healthcare justice. Our job is to build the grassroots movement within labor that will make this happen.” Just this year, the Washington State legislature passed Senate Joint Memo- rial 8004, asking the federal government to create a universal health care program or to partner with Washington State to implement a universal health system by passing legislation similar to the State Based Universal Health Care Act, or to grant Washington State waivers to remove restrictions on the state’s ability to create a universal health care system. PSARA was ably represented at the WSLC convention by our delegate Rob- by Stern, President of the PSARA Edu- cation Fund and member of PSARA's Executive Board, and our alternate, Pam Crone, also a member of PSARA's Executive Board and Chair of our Government Relations Committee < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents March 2025 Protecting our Assets and Protecting Our Asses Jeff Johnson "We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks, and dead ideas. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.” Arundhati Roy, “The pandemic is a portal,” Financial Times, April 3, 2020 Novelist Arundhati Roy likens the Covid pandemic to a portal which allows us the opportunity to make the same mistakes again and again or to envision a new world where we listen to and fight for our better angels. I believe her poignant imagery and prose brilliantly describe the choice we have facing climate change. Scientists have discovered five past catastrophic events in our history where the diversity of life has plummeted - five periods of species extinction. Given the current rate of species decline and cataclysmic climate disasters, some are arguing that we are entering the Sixth Extinction. The question is, are we just doomed? Or can we mitigate climate change? I believe that if we act thoughtfully, focus on the common good, and act with sufficient urgency, we can go through the climate portal fighting for an equitable, just, and sustainable economy and world. “Protecting Our Assets and Protecting Our Asses” is the first in a series of articles makingthe case for divesting from fossil fuel assets and investing in Green New Deal solutions. The Challenge In January 2016, fresh from being part of the US labor delegation to the Paris Climate Accords, I testified before the Washington State House Environmental Committee, saying that “climate change is an existential crisis.” Speaking as president of the Washington State Labor Council,AFL-CIO, I received raised eyebrows by a number of committee members and a few knowing nods from others. Eight years later, the horrifying devastation caused by hurricanes Helene and Milton in the Southeast and the multiple forest fires around Los Angeles should have convinced even the most skeptical among us that human-caused climate change poses an existential threat to life as we know it. Never, in our lifetimes, has the planet issued such a clear and resounding clarion call to do something. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that we are being told to leave fossil fuels in the ground; to make massive investments in non-fossil fuel renewable energy sources; to electrify our transportation infrastructure; to practice large scale regenerative agriculture; to invest in systemic energy retrofits to public and private buildings; and to figure out a global plan to address the accelerating climate refugee crisis. Unprecedented crises require unprecedented changes. We should invest in Green New Deal projects as if there were literally no tomorrow. Because if we don’t, our tomorrows will be pretty bleak. The Benefit Washington State Initiative 1631 was an attempt to go through the climate portal in an equitable, just, and sustainable way. Had 1631 passed, about $1.5 to $2.0 billion of clean energy projects a year would have been decided by a majority vote of environmental justice, labor, tribal, and environmental community leaders. These projects would have created tens of thousands of jobs with high labor standards – project labor agreements, prevailing wages, apprenticeship utilization standards, and local hire provisions. The initiative would also have created a “Just Transition” fund providing wage replacement, health care and pension benefits, and retraining benefits to displaced workers, keeping both workers and communities whole during the transition period. And of course, carbon emissions would have dramatically fallen, and there would have been no dubious carbon offsets to deal with. What Else Initiative 1631 was defeated by over $30 million contributed by the fossil fuel industry to sway the vote, and by not enough people recognizing the threat that climate change poses to our jobs, income, lives, and property. What has become increasingly clear is that climate change is a job killer, a budget killer, and a species killer. Every additional dollar invested in fossil fuels contributes to arable land becoming increasingly scarce; shrinking fresh water reserves; a further loss of jobs, lives, and property; and tens of millions of climate refugees fleeing for their lives. There is a moral imperative to divest from fossil fuels, since every dollar in- vested in fossil fuels accelerates climate disaster. There is an economic and budgetary imperative to divest from fossil fuels, since every dollar spent cleaning up climate disasters is a dollar not spent on education, health care, addressing poverty and inequality, affordable housing, or public safety. This, of course, translates into thousands of lost jobs and a declining quality of life for most of us. There is a fiscal imperative to divest from fossil fuels, since fossil fuels are consistently underperforming other assets. Sometime in the future, fossil fuel assets will become stranded assets. Financial prudence should, if nothing else, dictate replacing underperforming fossil fuel assets with climate-affirming assets with a promise of higher returns. I have hope that in Washington State we are prescient and bold enough to go through the climate portal by investing in the clean energy economy as if there were no tomorrow. We should dramatically reduce our public and private consumption of fossil fuels and divest our state funds and public and private union pension funds from fossil fuels as well. There is still time left to make good choices. How about we save our assets and our asses at the same time. Jeff Johnson is a former President of the Washington State Labor Council and the Co-President of PSARA. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents January 2026 Fossil Fuels Have Put Us in an Existential Fix Jefl Johnson “The Oil and gas industry makes $3 billion a day in pure profit. Generates over $4.3 trillion dollars a year in revenue. It is the seventh largest industry in the world ranked above food production, automobile production, coal mining, and at $1.4 trillion, the pharmaceutical industry doesn’t even crack the top ten. The industries listed above oil and gas are completely dependent on oil and gas. The more they grow, the more we grow. That’s the scale, that’s the size of this thing.” This is the opening monologue by the independent oilman character, Tommy Norris, played by Billy Bob Thornton, in the Taylor Sheridan‘s TV production, “Landman”. Exact numbers or not, they are staggering. And the amount of climate and species damage caused by fossil fuels is even more staggering. Since the signing of the Paris Climate Accord in 2016, the world’s major banks have lent approximately $7.9 trillion dollars to the fossil fuel industry, 20 percent of which has gone toward fossil fuel exploration and expansion. These numbers are real and are also staggering. In December 2024, one month prior to Trump’s second inauguration, six major U.S. banks (JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs) withdrew from the United Nations sponsored net zero banking alliance. This gives new meaning to Trump’s expression “burn, baby burn.” As our planet gets hotter every year, the interest on our credit card payments, our checking and savings accounts, and our pension funds are financing climate disaster. Can we do something about this? Yes. Should we do something about it? Absolutely! Easy first steps are to bank on the community level. We can do our banking and get our credit cards from credit unions, financial companies that don’t loan money or buy the debt of fossil fuel companies. But if we really want to make a difference, we can organize around getting our private and public pension funds to stop investing our pension dollars in fossil fuel assets. We can organize around getting the Washington State Investment Board (WSIB) to stop investing the 18 pension funds they oversee in fossil fuel assets. While the WSIB makes it difficult to precisely identify how much of their assets are invested in fossil fuels, a reasonable estimate is $6-8 billion directly invested in fossil fuels and at least as much in indexed funds that contain fossil fuel investments. All told, somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-7% of the WSIB portfolio. Why is it so important to divest, or to use a less pejorative financial term "rebalance," WSIB assets out of fossil fuels? Right out of the chute, fossil fuel assets continue to underperform the overall stock market. Since the end of the last bear market, October 2022, the Standard and Poor index of funds grew by 92 percent, while fossil fuels pulled up the rear at 17 percent. You don’t need to be a math major to understand that our pension assets would earn more money if they weren’t invested in fossil fuels. But given the real and palpable urgency of reducing carbon emissions and slowing down and reversing climate disaster, if a well-respected fund like the WSIB rebalanced their portfolio out of fossil fuels it would send a clear message to other institutional investors that you can earn great returns while also protecting our planet. Not too shabby of a rationale. As a species, humans are great at making excuses not to do something. Particularly when billionaires and their representatives tell us there is a better way. Engage, they say, don’t divest. A cursory reading of the history of the corporate response to asbestos and cigarettes should be fair warning. Simply engaging corporations in a discussion around lowering carbon emissions will kill us on a grander scale than anything we have known before. Climate disaster is the greatest existential crisis there is. The situation that we are in right now recalls for me two sayings I am quite fond of. The first by our dear friend Michael Righi, recently passed, who used to say “every billionaire is a policy failure.” We have to stop taking our advice from people who benefited the most from extractive industries and who will be the least impacted by climate disaster. The second is by humorist and social commentator Will Rogers. Rogers used to say, “If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” Acknowledging that fossil fuel investments have put us in an existential fix is a first step. Now it’s time to stop making it worse, time to stop digging! Over the next several months I will continue to research and write about ending the financing of climate change. In the meantime, if you are persuaded by this article or the group of essays I wrote last year, “Protecting our Assets, Protecting Our Asses”(visit our website at psara.org and click the image on our homepage) then please write letters, emails, or postcards to our political leaders (Governor, Lt. Governor, State Treasurer, Director of Labor and Industries) and to our union leaders and tell them it is time to act. Jeff Johnson is Co-President of PSARA and a retired President of the Washington State Labor Council < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents December 2025 Letter from State Medical Associations: "The WISeR Model expands the burdensome prior authorization processes that physicians already experience in Medicare Advantage" October 31, 2025 Dr. Mehmet Oz Administrator Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 7500 Security Boulevard Baltimore, MD 21244 Dear Dr. Oz, On behalf of the undersigned state medical associations, we write to raise concerns about the prior authorization (PA) pilot under the WISeR model as it relates to Medicare. While our organizations appreciate the aim of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to increase accountability, value in healthcare delivery for Medicare beneficiaries, and reduce spending on services deemed low-value or wasteful, we believe the current design of this pilot risks unintended consequences including delayed care, reduced access, and increased burdens on both patients and physicians. Moreover, we are deeply concerned by both the lack of operational details released to date and the pace at which CMS is advancing a program of this magnitude, particularly one that shifts critical decisions away from physicians and patients – without sufficient transparency, stakeholder input, or evidence it will improve patient care. Administrative burden placing barriers to patient access Our organizations are concerned that the WISeR Model expands the burdensome PA processes that physicians already experience in Medicare Advantage (MA) and the commercial insurance markets into Traditional Medicare. The demonstration represents significant departures from current standards and seems to conflict with CMS’ recent, highly laudable achievement of securing a commitment from the health insurance industry to fix the broken PA process, to include reducing the overall volume of PA requirements. PA has consistently been identified by physicians as one of the most burdensome and disruptive administrative requirements they face in providing quality care to patients. In a 2024 American Medical Association survey, 93 percent of physicians reported that PA causes care delays, 82 percent indicated that the process can lead to treatment abandonment, and an alarming 29 percent said that PA had led to a serious adverse event (hospitalization, disability, or even death) for a patient in their care. Beyond the risk for patient harm, expansion of PA requirements under the WISeR model will exacerbate the administrative burdens already associated with PA. Surveyed physicians reported major burdens associated with this process, with practices completing an average of 39 PAs per physician, per week. This significant workload requires practices to hire additional personnel, with 40 percent of the surveyed physicians reporting that their practice employs staff who work exclusively on PA. Growing evidence linking practice burdens to professional burnout for physicians and other health care professionals underscores the importance of addressing administrative workloads. The introduction of such PA protocols in Traditional Medicare also risks creating unnecessary delays in patient care, increasing practice expenses, and diverting time and resources away from direct patient care. Our organizations recognize that CMS intends to use artificial intelligence and machine learning tools in the WISeR Model to help identify potentially unnecessary services more efficiently and consistently than manual reviews alone. We appreciate that technological advances can appropriately create efficiencies when applied responsibly and transparently. However, reliance on AI and other automated tools raise significant risks if not governed properly. We are also concerned that the vendor incentive structure within the WISeR Model could result in excessive denials motivated more by the potential for vendor profit than by fair and balanced clinical judgment. When third-party entities are paid based on the volume of denied services, there is a clear risk that care that is medically necessary for certain patients will be inappropriately denied in pursuit of savings. Physicians are committed to delivering high-quality, evidence-based care to Medicare beneficiaries. However, the prior authorization pilot risks creating barriers to care, undermining patient outcomes, and imposing unsustainable administrative demands on practices. We respectfully urge CMS to cease implementation and work collaboratively with stakeholders to design payment processes that protect the Medicare Trust Fund while achieving value, without jeopardizing patient access. Sincerely, James Jameson, MD President, Arizona State Medical Association John Bastulli, MD, FASA President, Ohio State Medical Association Bridget Bush, MD, FASA President, Washington State Medical Association Peter Blumenthal, MD President, Medical Society of New Jersey Sumit Nanda, MD President, Oklahoma State Medical Association < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents December 2025 Resistance In Washington State Grows Cindy Domingo Resistance is spreading across the US including the major cities whereTrump has sent federal troops and/or the National Guard. Washington State organizations and coalitions are organizing to protect their communities from a potential troop deployment. PSARA is focusing our work on the Free Washington Project (FWP). The Project has called for the formation of a Coordinating Council to grow a grassroots network in Washington State to resist authoritarian and anti-democratic actions of the Trump administration, and the agenda of Project 2025. FWP will coordinate efforts with other stakeholders to stand against military escalation and criminalization of protest. Initiated by Washington State Standing for Democracy, the Free Washington Project has been inspired by Free DC, Hands Off NYC, Bay Resistance, and organizations united in Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago. Discussions with activists and organizers from these cities have enabled the organizers at the center of FWP to glean important lessons in building a popular front. First, FWP seeks to prevent the sending of troops and second, if troops are sent, to build a coordinated response to protect vulnerable communities and to ensure our response is nonviolent. The FWP is building a Coordinating Council that is multi-racial and multi-sectoral that can grow resilience and mutual support across communities and the state. Through coordinated actions and events and sharing resources and announcements, we can broaden the base of resistance beyond those organizations that are the most active currently in the anti-fascist movement. The FWP is launching a website ( freeWAproject.org ) to act as a clearing house to amplify the efforts of those organizing around the state. It will be a resource to announce actions, events, and trainings, intended to build resistance to Project 2025, even more broadly than its attacks against immigrants. Trainings can include non-violent civil disobedience, building rapid response networks, and de-escalation tactics. The six points of unity for joining FWP are: Commitment to non-violence to ensure the success of actions; Commitment to building a coordinated response against the use of military or militarized units of federal or federalized forces in Washington State; Commitment to solidarity, based on respect for diverse tactics and plans by various groups, avoidance of public criticisms, or debates within our movements; Opposition to any state repression that seeks to surveil, infiltrate, disrupt, and cause violence to our movement; Build the broadest resistance to authoritarian actions of the administration by utilizing the website as a resource for members of FWP; Promoting community by building the broadest coalition that is multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-sectoral, multi-generational, and internationalist in composition and viewpoint. The coalition will honor the leadership of those most impacted by the policies currently being implemented under Project 2025. While Standing for Democracy’s main emphasis will be to build a Coordinating Council of FWP, it is important to continue to build ties with other organizational efforts that have intersecting interests with FWP. One important formation, chaired by One America, is the Statewide Immigration Table: Rapid Mobilization which is focusing on a plan should federal troops be deployed to Washington State. Composed mainly of immigrant rights groups, ACLU and Indivisible representatives, the Table focuses on attacks on immigrant communities. As a leader in immigrant justice, One America is also building a communications plan with elected officials and media. WAISN (Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network) is launching a statewide membership group focused on large-scale raids by ICE. Standing for Democracy continues its ongoing committee work through People’s Assemblies for Democracy, Affirmative Resistance, as well as a general membership education session on the last Wednesday of each month. If you are interested in attending Standing for Democracy meetings and/ or finding out more information about the Coordinating Council of the Free Washington Project, please contact Cindy Domingo at 206.856.0324 or standingfordemocracy053@gmail.com . Cindy Domingo is a veteran activist with LELO (Legacy of Equality, Leadership & Organizing) and APALA (Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance), and PSARA's Co-VP for Outreach < Back to Table of Contents