• Remember AFT Members Who Lost Everything
  to Hurricanes
• Seniors Pay a Heavy Price in Bush Budget
• Health Savings Accounts Would Drain $156 Billion
• Still Deciding about Medicare Part D?
• Private Employers Cutting Retiree Health Benefits
• AFT Executive Council Condemns '65 Percent Solution'
• Former AFT Vice President Paul Devlin Dies at 67
• Lee Cutler Elected to AFT Executive Council
• Need Tax Help? Try the AFL-CIO’s Online Prep Service
• Quotes of Note: President Bush and Jack Abramoff 
• Web site of the Week: Be-gone Phishing

REMEMBER AFT MEMBERS WHO LOST EVERYTHING
TO HURRICANES
An AFT lawsuit is now the only thing standing between termination and nearly all New Orleans public schools employees. With only two public schools open, and the rest non-union charters, these AFT members already have lost their paychecks and now stand to lose their healthcare coverage. That is why, more than ever, we must send a message to our union colleagues in the Gulf Coast region that they have not been forgotten. More than 10,000 have applied for individual $500 grants from the AFT; and so far, union members have contributed a little over $1 million of the $5 million needed to finance the grants. The AFT fund has already processed 7,700 checks. Please contribute to the AFT Disaster Relief Fund, which is providing grants to AFT members who have suffered losses due to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. All money collected by the disaster fund is used to provide direct assistance to AFT members. To make your tax-deductible donation, go to http://www.aft.org/katrina.

SENIORS PAY A HEAVY PRICE IN BUSH BUDGET
President Bush continues to shred the social safety net millions of vulnerable and needy citizens count on in order to finance tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and reward special interests. Under the president's 2007 budget proposal, domestic programs, except homeland security, will face cuts of more $182 billion over 10 years, including cuts to healthcare, education, nutrition and social services—just as the first of 78 million Baby Boomers hit 60 this year. Medicare stands to lose $105 billion over 10 years, the single largest reduction in the budget. The White House proposes significant cuts in payments to hospitals and other healthcare providers and much higher premiums for higher-income beneficiaries. Medicaid, which pays for more than half of all long-term care, is targeted to lose $42.3 billion over the same 10-year period. Social Security was granted a temporary reprieve, with privatization on hold until after the 2006 elections. But the president’s budget now projects private accounts beginning in 2010. If enacted, these accounts would require deep cuts in Social Security benefits and add $712 billion to the federal debt. The Bush budget would, however, cut $6.3 billion in benefits for children of deceased, disabled or retired workers; the budget would also eliminate the $255 death benefit. The White House proposed budget cuts the Older Americans Act by $76 million by eliminating preventive health services and Alzheimer's disease grants and reducing funding for most of the other major programs. The president's proposal cuts Social Services Block Grants (SSBG) by $500 million. Programs most frequently supported by SSBG for low-income older adults include home care and protective services to prevent neglect and abuse. With energy costs estimated to be 30 percent to 50 percent higher than last year, the Bush budget proposes a funding level of $2.032 billion, much less than the $5.1 billion Congress authorized for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS WOULD DRAIN
$156 BILLION
In his state of the union address and FY 2007 budget, President Bush also proposed expanding Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and a new form of health insurance, Association Health Plans (AHPs). Both proposals would do little to help the uninsured and would help undermine existing employer-provided health insurance. HSAs are tax-free accounts tied to high-deductible health plans. These health accounts are tax shelters that would be used primarily by the wealthy and would likely be used by employers as a cheaper alternative and justification for eliminating their existing health insurance plans. According to a Government Accountability Office report released Feb. 2, Federal Employees Health Benefits Program members enrolled in high-deductible health plans tied to health savings accounts on average are younger than those enrolled in traditional plans and more likely to have annual incomes of $75,000 or more. Traditional health plans were much more likely than high-deductible plans associated with HSAs to cover prescription drugs before the deductible was met. HSAs are projected to cost the government $156 billion over 10 years. According to the Wall Street Journal, HSAs might "be poised to become the 401(k)s of healthcare: a low-cost substitute for a once standard workplace-provided benefit." Association Health Plans would be a new form of health insurance. They would not be subject to state regulation, would be allowed to "cherry pick" younger, healthier workers and would not be subject to state requirements for adequate funding or state benefit requirements, such as mandatory preventive medical care.

STILL DECIDING ABOUT MEDICARE PART D?
The enrollment period for the new Medicare prescription drug program is open until May 15. If you haven’t decided whether to enroll or which plan is right for you, start with a visit to Medicare Interactive, a special Web site created by the Medicare Rights Center and sponsored by the AFT. To visit the site, just click on http://www.medicareinteractive.org/aft. In January, the site had more than 14,000 visits. Shouldn’t you go there, too?

PRIVATE EMPLOYERS CUTTING RETIREE
HEALTH BENEFITS
The corporate-sponsored social contract continues to unravel as more large U.S. corporations cut pensions and health benefits. Citing competition from foreign companies with lower benefits costs and domestic rivals with less generous benefit packages, companies, such as General Motors and IBM, recently have taken steps to close their pension plans or retiree health benefits packages to new employees. Instead, the corporate giants are offering fixed contributions to individual retirement accounts and healthcare packages limited to active workers. According to an annual survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust, the percentage of companies with 200 or more workers that offered some form of healthcare benefits for retirees decreased from 66 percent in 1988 to 33 percent in 2005. Private companies that do still offer pensions and retiree health plans often have union contracts or legal obligations that do not allow them to drop the benefits. “In times like these, workers need a union more than ever,” says Bill Cunningham, AFT associate director of federal legislation. “It’s the only way an individual can hope to fight back.” Unfortunately, with a growing inequality between workers and the wealthy, many workers value today’s paycheck over tomorrow’s pension and health benefits. A 2004 Employee Benefit Research Institute survey found that only 5 percent of workers think of retiree healthcare as their most important benefit, while 4 percent believe a pension is the most important, and 9 percent of respondents rank either of the two benefits in second place.

AFT EXECUTIVE COUNCIL CONDEMNS '65 PERCENT SOLUTION'
The latest deceptive and misguided "reform" of public education is a so-called "65 percent solution" being pushed across the country. The seemingly positive idea behind the proposal, now showing up in state ballot initiatives or legislatures, is to require that a minimum of 65 percent of education spending go to direct instruction in the classroom (as defined by the National Center for Education Statistics). A deeper look reveals that the proposal could torpedo vital nonclassroom activities, including school health and nursing, libraries, nutrition, transportation, building maintenance, counseling, security and professional development. This threat prompted the AFT executive council at its recent meeting in Florida to adopt a resolution outlining problems with the idea, which is being promoted by a phony grass-roots organization called First Class Education. Among other things, according to the resolution, the proposal does nothing to guarantee greater student achievement or more efficient spending by school districts.

FORMER AFT VICE PRESIDENT PAUL DEVLIN DIES
AT 67
Paul Devlin, a former AFT vice president who for the last six years served on the AFT staff in the office of the secretary-treasurer, died Feb. 8 at Sibley Hospital in Washington, D.C., after a brief battle with cancer. He was 67. President of the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers (MFT) from 1980 to 1993, Devlin was a lifelong union activist and a savvy strategist in both the political and labor arenas. During his tenure on the AFT executive council from 1976 to 1994, he was a member of the council's COPE committee and served as head of its legislation committee and as chair of its defense committee. After leaving the MFT and before joining the AFT staff, he was director of legislative and field affairs for the AFL-CIO Public Employee Department in Washington, D.C. At the AFT, Devlin was the national union's liaison with the AFL-CIO and was instrumental in putting together the AFL-CIO's New Alliance initiative in 2000 to boost participation of AFL-CIO affiliates in state federations and central labor councils. "The professional void Paul leaves is immense," says AFT president Edward J. McElroy. "The loss to his loving family and countless friends is far greater." Survivors include his wife of nearly 10 years, Joan, an associate director in the AFT educational issues department; five children from his first marriage (his first wife Dorothy died in the early 1990s); and six grandchildren. Messages of condolence may be sent to Joan Devlin in care of the AFT, 555 New Jersey Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20001.

LEE CUTLER ELECTED TO AFT EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
Lee Cutler, president of the Nanuet Teachers Association in New York and a member of the New York State United Teachers board of directors, has been elected to the AFT executive council. Cutler replaces longtime AFT vice president Paul F. Cole, who retired Feb.1. Cutler, a middle school English teacher in the Nanuet Union Free School District, has served on numerous NYSUT board committees, including its human and civil rights committee, women's history committee and higher education committee. An adjunct professor in humanistic and multicultural education at the State University of New York at New Paltz, Cutler is also president of the Rockland County Teachers Association, an umbrella organization for all NYSUT locals in Rockland County, N.Y. Cutler took his seat on the council at its meeting in Florida on Jan. 30 after members paid tribute to Cole, who has served on the AFT council for more than 30 years.

NEED TAX HELP? TRY THE AFL-CIO’S ONLINE
PREP SERVICE
Take advantage of this discounted online tax preparation service available through Union Privilege, the benefits arm of the AFL-CIO. You can file your federal return for $14.95 and your state return for $9.95, for a total cost of $24.90. If your adjusted gross income is below $29,000, you can file your federal and state returns for $9.95. Visit http://www.unionplus.org/taxes to learn more about the service and to use it for filing electronic returns.

QUOTES OF NOTE
"You know, I, frankly, don’t even remember having my picture taken with the guy [Jack Abramoff]. I don’t know him."

President George W.Bush
Jan. 26, 2006, Press Conference

"[President Bush] has one of the best memories of any politician I have ever met. It was one if [sic] his trademarks. Though he can’t recall that he has a great memory! The guy saw me in almost a dozen settings and joked with me about a bunch of things, including details of my kids. Perhaps he has forgotten everything. Who knows?"

Jack Abramoff
e-mail to Kim Eisler, national editor
Washingtonian

The magazine recently reported on the existence of several photographs showing Abramoff and Bush together and multiple contacts between the two men over a period of years. Another e-mail shows Abramoff turning down an invitation to the Bush ranch in 2003.

WEB SITE OF THE WEEK: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/email/
phishing.mspx 
Phishing is a type of deception designed to steal your identity. In phishing, scam artists try to get you to disclose valuable personal data—like credit card numbers, passwords, account data, or other information—by convincing you to provide it under false pretenses. This useful site helps you recognize and combat phishing.