Polish American Strategic Initiative Seeks
To Become Voice for Polish American
Interests At Federal, State and Local Levels
- PostEagle
- April 28, 2021
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The Polish American Strategic Initiative seeks to become a well-recognized voice for Polish American interests at the federal, state, and local levels in order to elevate sensitivity towards and appreciation of Polish Americans’ needs, ambitions, aspirations, and history. PASI strives to secure the fair representation of Polish American interests in our country’s political system.
CORE VALUES
NON-PARTISANSHIP: PASI commits itself to a platform of non-partisanship and is open to working with members of all political parties that adhere to truth, honesty, and justice.
PRAGMATISM: PASI embraces pragmatism in partnering with diverse interest groups and organizations, on any particular issue, towards reaching shared goals and benchmarks.
ETHICAL PRINCIPLES: PASI adheres to the highest moral principles and standards.
LEADERSHIP EXCELLENCE:
PASI aspires to leadership excellence which empowers Polish American communities to advance their political, cultural, and economic interests.
STRATEGIC FORESIGHT:
PASI pursues policies that positively impact our communities while advocating for the best solutions to achieve our goals.
STRATEGIES
Establishing and developing PASI as the voice of Polish American interests in the United States and Poland.
Increasing national membership using diverse communication platforms, supporting active local PASI chapters, and partnering with other organizations.
Seeking to develop a more cohesive Polish American community while recognizing diverse and sometimes conflicting views and aspirations of its members. We aspire to bring Polish Americans closer together as a community with which they want to identify.
MISJA I WIZJA
Polsko-Amerykańska Inicjatywa Strategiczna (PASI) dąży do tego by stać się rozpoznawalnym i cenionym głosem Polonii na szczeblu federalnym, stanowym i lokalnym i godnie reprezentować interesy, potrzeby i aspiracje Amerykanów polskiego pochodzenia w systemie politycznym Stanów Zjednoczonych.
WARTOŚCI WIODĄCE
BEZSTRONNOŚĆ: PASI zamierza współpracować z członkami wszystkich partii i ugrupowań politycznych które przestrzegają zasad prawdy, uczciwości i sprawiedliwości.
PRAGMATYZM: PASI podchodzi pragmatycznie do współpracy z różnymi organizacjami i grupami interesów aby realizować wspólne cele.
ZASADY ETYCZNE: PASI przestrzega najwyższych zasad i standardów etycznych.
DOSKONAŁOŚĆ PRZYWÓDZTWA: PASI dąży do tego aby stać się wiodącą polityczną organizacją Polonii, której celem jest reprezentacja i realizacja interesów politycznych, kulturowych i ekonomicznych polonijnych społeczności.
MYŚLENIE STRATEGICZNE: PASI realizuje politykę która pozytywnie oddziaływuje na nasze społeczności, oraz opowiada się za optymalnymi rozwiązaniami umożliwiającymi osiągnięcie nakreślonych celów.
STRATEGIA
Tworzenie i rozwój PASI jako reprezentanta interesów Polonii w Stanach Zjednoczonych i w Polsce.
Zwiększanie liczby członków organizacji w Stanach Zjednoczonych z wykorzystaniem różnorodnych platform komunikacyjnych, wspieranie lokalnych oddziałów PASI oraz partnerstwo z innymi organizacjami.
Dążenie do stworzenia zjednoczonej społeczności polonijnej; działanie z poszanowaniem różnorodnych, a czasem sprzecznych poglądów i aspiracji jej członków. Budowanie Polonii amerykańskiej jako wspólnoty, z którą Polonia amerykańska będzie chciała się identyfikować.
My name is Edward Jeśman.
Friends call me Voytek. I am one of the co-founders of the Polish American Strategic Initiative, PASI, for short. I now have a distinct honor of serving as its President.
Welcome, everyone!
Polish American Strategic Initiative was registered to promote the political and economic interests of Polish Americans. We are here to serve our community and foster fair and balanced Poland-United States relations. PASI strives to become an assertive voice for Polish American interests and a valued political player in Washington, now and in the future.
We hope that our activities will positively affect Polish Americans’ standing and welfare and contribute to improving and strengthening the strategic partnership between Poland and the United States.
Our goal at PASI is to advance the community’s interests and inspire a new generation of Polish American leaders. We want Polish Americans to increase their political role in shaping this great country, especially now when the multiple threats and challenges grow and intensify around us.
We hope you will join us. Together, we can improve Polish Americans’ political and economic standing and build a better America and better Poland. Acting together, we can make a tremendous difference.
Join us!
Nazywam się Edward Jeśman.
Wśród znajomych znany jestem jako Wojtek. Jestem jednym z współzałożycieli Polsko Amerykańskiej Inicjatywy Strategicznej, w skrócie PASI. Mam zaszczyt służyć jako Prezes naszej organizacji.
Witam Państwa!
Polsko Amerykańska Inicjatywa Strategiczna została zarejestrowana aby promować polityczne i ekonomiczne interesy Polonii Amerykańskiej. Istniejemy aby służyć naszej społeczności i pielęgnować uczciwe i zrównoważone stosunki Polski i Stanów Zjednoczonych. Staramy się asertywnie reprezentować polonijne interesy dążąc aby PASI stała się liczącą siłą polityczną oraz cenionym głosem w Waszyngtonie, teraz i w przyszłości.
Mamy nadzieję, że nasza działalność wpłynie pozytywnie na pozycję i dobrobyt Polonii amerykańskiej i przyczyni się do poprawy i wzmocnienia strategicznego partnerstwa między Polską i Stanami Zjednoczonymi.
Celem PASI jest wspieranie interesów społeczności polonijnej oraz inspirowanie i kultywowanie nowego pokolenia amerykańskich liderów polskiego pochodzenia. Chcemy zwiększyć polityczną rolę Polonii w kształtowaniu wspaniałego kraju jakim są Stany Zjednoczone, szczególnie teraz gdy piętrzą się wokół nas wszystkich liczne zagrożenia i przeszkody.
Mamy nadzieję, że zdecydują się Państwo wstąpić do PASI. Wspólnie możemy wzmocnić polityczną i ekonomiczną rolę Polonii, budując lepszą Amerykę i lepszą Polskę. Działając wspólnie, jesteśmy w stanie osiągnąć więcej i doprowadzić do zmian na lepsze.
Dołącz do nas!
PASI IN ACTION
Social Security Benefits
Social Security Fairness Act of 2021, H.R. 82 & S.1302
The existing U.S. Social Security Act contains two provisions: The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO), which can unfairly reduce the Social Security benefits of legal immigrants. WEP provisions are unjust towards legal immigrants whose retirement benefits also come from their native countries.
Immigrants working in the United States earn Social Security benefits. However, when an immigrant receives both the foreign pension for work performed in their native country and the Social Security benefits earned in the United States, the Social Security Administration considers this a “windfall” and calculates the Social Security benefits applying the so-called “windfall formula.” The above formula can significantly reduce the Social Security benefits paid to the worker. As a result, many immigrants retire with very modest combined retirement benefits, which place them below the poverty threshold. For years, many Polish immigrants have been affected by such deductions.
Efforts have been made over the years to amend the Social Security Act and eliminate the WEP and GPO provisions, which unjustly penalize legal immigrants and many classes of government workers. A hard-earned small foreign pension should not be considered a windfall.
PASI focused its lobbying efforts in 2020 and 2021, among other things, on eliminating WEP and GPO and appealed to other Polish American organizations to join its efforts signing letters to the U.S. Congress, most recently, in support of the Social Security Act of 2021.
Social Security Fairness Act of 2021, Bill H.R.82 & S.1302
The Bill that PASI is supporting is referred to as H.R. 82 and S.1302 – The Social Security Fairness Act of 2021.
This Act eliminates the unfair “Windfall Elimination Provision” (WEP) for legal immigrants (also Polish American retirees) who earned retirement benefits in another country.
This Act also aims to eliminate the “Government Pension Offset” (GPO) of retirement benefits for approximately 1.2 million American employees: federal workers insured by Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and state and local government workers in 26 states: mainly teachers, policemen, firemen, and railroad employees.
As of March 2021, the Senate has not yet acted on the current Bill but PASI is monitoring its progress. PASI supports H.R. 82 and urges all Americans and Polish Americans to join PASI in lobbying U.S. Senators to pass the Social Security Fairness Act in 2021. https://www.joinpasi.org/
To learn more about this current Bill, please see https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/82?s=1&r=9 and https://www.joinpasi.org/issues/.
APPEAL TO POLISH AMERICAN ORGANIZATIONS REGARDING SUPPORT FOR ACT H.R. 82 & S.1302
Dear Sir/Madam,
On behalf of your organization, please consider endorsing the enclosed letter. The letter urges our U.S. congressional representatives to support the Social Security Fairness Act of 2021 (H.R. 82), presently pending in the U.S. House of Representatives. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/82?s=1&r=3
The proposed legislation eliminates the unfair “Government Pension Offset” (GPO) and “Windfall Elimination Provision” (WEP). GPO and WEP unfairly reduce Social Security payments of those who earned retirement benefits on work not covered by the Social Security (e.g., federal, state, local government employment, or employment in another country). The WEP provisions affect many legal immigrants, also Polish American retirees, who often have their Social Security benefits drastically reduced.
The support of your organization will strengthen the letter’s impact. Let’s end the unfair Windfall Elimination Provision! Join us! Have the Polish American voice heard on Capitol Hill!
Please fill in and submit the below ACTION’S SUPPORT DECLARATION https://pacmissouri.org/contact-us/actions-support-declaration/
– Your name and organization will be placed on the letter to all members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senators.
– You will get updates about the status of the initiative.
For more information see: https://poradniksukces.com/wp/co-nowego-w-kongresie-o-windfall-elimination-provision/
If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Edward Wojciech Jeśman, President
Polish American Strategic Initiative
(310) 291-2681
LETTER TO THE U.S. CONGRESS
April 27, 2021
The Honorable ……………….
Re: The Social Security Fairness Act of 2021 (H.R. 82 & S. 1302)
Dear …………….……………….
Members of numerous Polish American organizations within the United States representing your constituents, and signed below, would like to thank you for your support or urge you to support, if you have not done so yet, the legislation H.R. 82 and S.1302, also known as “The Social Security Fairness Act of 2021.”
The H.R. 82 and S. 1302 aims to repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) from the existing Social Security Act. In addition to negatively impacting the disability benefits of many, these provisions are unfair to countless government workers and legal immigrants because they drastically reduce their Social Security retirement benefits (up to 50% of their non-Social Security pension). The GPO and WEP provisions are especially unjust towards legal immigrants whose small retirement pensions come from their native countries. Many of your constituents affected by these provisions fled persecution under repressive governments. These are primarily first-generation immigrants who retire with a very modest income, which combines social security benefits and foreign retirement. Their combined income frequently falls below the poverty threshold.
The legal immigrants did not have an option to work on jobs covered by the Social Security in their native country, therefore punishing them by cutting down their Social Security benefit is discriminatory and unjust. Their foreign pension is not, by any means, a WINDFALL.
We know that Congress has heard before from thousands of public employees about this issue but has not acted on the subject. We are asking for your help. You are empowered with the capacity and privilege to make a difference in many current and future retirees’ lives. We urge you to support “The Social Security Fairness Act of 2021”; if enacted into law, it would restore a much-needed sense of justice to many retirees.
Thank you for your consideration and support.
Best regards,
For more information about PASI, go to www.joinpasi.org
Call toll free 844-650-PASI
email: info@joinpasi.org
Polish American Strategic Initiative
P.O. Box 2771
New Britain, CT 06050