Washington, DC - Patrick Yoes, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, expressed his outrage over a rule-breaking legislative maneuver from Representatives Andrew P. Harris (R-MD) and Robert G. Good (R-VA) that may block H.R. 82, the “Social Security Fairness Act,” from being considered on the floor of the House.  

“Representatives Harris and Good are attempting to thwart the will of millions of Americans who successfully lobbied the House to pass Discharge Petition #16, which was going to put H.R. 82, the ‘Social Security Fairness Act,’ on the floor for a vote as early as next week,” said Yoes. “These Representatives have long been vocal critics of the bill, but rather than attempting to win in the court of public opinion, they have resorted to shady legislative tactics in order to force their unpopular views upon the House of Representatives.”

As the presiding officer, Representative Harris should not have allowed Representative Good’s unanimous consent request. This action appears to be in violation of the practices of the House, which disallows unanimous consent requests without the prior consent of the chairman and ranking members of the committee of jurisdiction as well as that of the Speaker of the House and the Minority Leader. There was no consent, and Representative Harris, in league with Representative Good, deliberately broke the rules at a time when there was no one to object on the House floor.

“For 40 years, millions of public servants have seen their benefits stolen by a grossly unfair system. We have a real chance at stopping this injustice, but now these two unsupervised and very partisan members are threatening to upend this process,” Yoes said. “I call on House leadership to not let this travesty stand and to do the right thing for the millions of impacted police officers, fire fighters, and other government employees across the country.”