Save us while you still can

Dear Reps. George Camacho, Ralph Sablan, Joseph De Leon Guerrero, Tony Sablan, and Frank Dela Cruz: For the sake of us active members who are also in jeopardy of losing everything, please reconsider and think about us. It is bad enough we worked for so long for this investment security and now we are not going to get it. At least return our money, while we are still willing to forgive you all for killing our lives.

We already know what we are losing, but you don’t know what you have done to us. The cutting of the work hours, making us pay for fuel charge and now our retirement. Please, let us decide for ourselves where we want to go with our contributions. Don’t use us again as your shield. Give us our money back and help the retirees. Let us go to Social Security and apply for it ourselves individually.

SSA is serving tons of people with worse problems than us. I don’t think they’ll entertain you, but we know they’ll entertain us individually. Return our money please and take the remaining and help the retirees, because for sure SSA will entertain you for that. Your hope for negotiation to buy back with us in it is not going to go through. The only thing that will go through with SSA will be for those disabled, old, and underage dependants who can’t work. As for the rest of the retirees, we suggest that either you give them their jobs back or start paying them the $300 million you owe them.

A relative in the mainland approached Social Security and they said the only thing that SSA will entertain will be the disabled, elderly, and underage dependants who have no other source of income. They said if the SSA allows able people to buy back, then it will create a problem with the U.S. government. So, remember, we are not a special people that Congress is going to waste their time to entertain. But I know they’ll entertain for humanitarian reason the disabled, elderly and underage dependent with no other source of income.

Amend H.B. 17-226 to return our money 100 percent, stop the deductions, and help retirees transition to SS or put them back to work. At least with this plan you can collect the overpayment, and maybe in the future you can give us something for our share.

And to Rep. Eli Cabrera and those who voted yes, thank you. Now, I’m begging you to amend and return, otherwise explain so that we know what is your reason. Just make sure you follow the proper procedure when transitioning to SSA.

Jose DLC Atalig
San Jose Village, Tinian