Sylvester Turner: “it does not happen very often on the floor of this House where a bill comes forward that has many good provisions in it…”

“it does not happen very often on the floor of this House where a bill comes forward that has many good provisions in it, but there is one provision that is so damaging and so harmful and so unfair that it causes us to oppose an otherwise good bill. But as my colleagues have heard over and over again today in this debate, public school teachers in places like my State of Texas and other government employees feel very strongly that the government pension offset is wrong, that it must be corrected, the law must be changed; and this bill provided an opportunity to correct that injustice. I know from personal experience how deeply this issue is felt by public school teachers. It was a couple of years ago in my office that I had a lady come to see me, and I really did not know why it was she really wanted to come see me, but my staff had said this lady really wants to talk to you, she needs to see you. So I said, well, let her come on, I would be glad to visit with her. I had no idea what it would be about. She came and she began to tell me a story that quickly turned to tears in her eyes when she told me about how her husband had passed away just a few months before. After his death, she learned that she would not be able to collect any of the survivor benefits that she believed, rightfully, her husband had earned by a lifetime of contributions to the Social Security system.”