Kevin Brady: “I support this bill. Let me address my remarks toward the teacher loophole portion of this, because this is what we are…”

“I support this bill. Let me address my remarks toward the teacher loophole portion of this, because this is what we are discussing the most. I admire teachers. They are hardworking and incredibly dedicated, as we all know. They are my friends, my sister-in-law, and my next-door neighbor, literally. But keeping open the Texas teacher loophole is terribly unfair. The loophole practice was first reported to the fraud hotline of Social Security a few years ago. A subsequent investigation by the General Accounting Office followed and, upon their finding that millions of dollars were being siphoned from Social Security, the recommendation was made to Congress to close it. The Senate voted 99 to 0 to close it. But that is why we are here today in the House, to preserve the integrity of Social Security. This is how the loophole works in Texas, in my State. Teachers in the State retirement system do not pay into Social Security. They have opted out. They pay instead into a substitute retirement plan, the teacher retirement system of Texas. As they near retirement, a Texas teacher resigns from her school district. She pays then another school district that is in Social Security; she pays them between $200 and $500 to work for them 1 day, in the cafeteria, doing maintenance, or as a clerical aid.”