Senate Approves Stopgap Funding Bill Just After Shutdown Deadline

December 21, 2024: The new legislation would keep the government open, extending funding into mid-March, but did not include the debt ceiling increase that President-elect Trump had demanded. President Biden is expected to sign it.

As a reminder, the following link is information about Federal Pay and Benefits during a Federal Government Shutdown.  If the hyperlink does not work:

https://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2024/12/your-guide-pay-and-benefits-during-shutdown/401829/

NARFE is fighting for you!!!!

Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and

Government Pension Offset(GPO)

has been repealed!!

The Senate vote in the wee hours of Saturday, December 21st, was 76-20 to get rid of this disgraceful rule. The bill is on the way to President Biden for his signature. The effective date was January 2024, so, once the Social Security Administration implements the repeal, in addition to receiving their full SS benefits going forward, recipients should expect retroactive pay from that date.

Congratulations for such a well-deserved, hard-fought victory!!

And a special THANK YOU!! to all those who contacted their Congressional Representatives!!

AMS Update

Saturday, December 21, 2024:

We have enlisted the aid of a number of volunteers to examine the reports that are made visible to our reviewers.  I have seen progress made on the M-102’s, M-112’2 and M-110’s.  With that said, the update has been going much much slower than expected.  We are working closely with our contractors to make changes, adjustments, and needed    Many of these actions are fast turnarounds.  One moment you see a report and the next moment it is replaced with a “You do not have access to view this page within the site.”  Please bare with us.  This is not an easy task. 

This is explained by one of the testers:

As most of you know NARFE is in the process upgrading the Association Management System (AMS) (including Officer Portal) to Microsoft Dynamics 365, and the Configuration Advisory Board (CAB) has been part of the acceptance testing process (along with headquarters staff). Part of the upgrade is already done, but most of the reports that many of us rely on are not ready. Rather than giving people access to faulty reports, the reports were temporarily disabled with the above error message. Although the wording of the error message could have been better, Officer access to those reports has not changed and once the reports are updated Officers will again be able to run the reports. As soon as the reports are “ready”, CAB will test them as quickly as possible so Officers can get access to the information you need. CAB appreciates everyone’s patience while NARFE tries to build a better AMS system.

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Daryl Zimmerman, Sturgis, SD

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Saturday October 12, 2024:

Shortly after this page was posted this morning, we received a Membership Update from NARFE Headquarters.  You may have received the same.  This is a functional copy of what was sent:

Thank you for your patience as NARFE undergoes significant maintenance. As a reminder, the upgrade of NARFE’s Association Management Software (“the AMS,” our membership database) began Monday and will continue into next week.

A few things we want you to know at this point in the process:

• Staff is still regaining access to critical business functions, tools and platforms.
• We plan to restore Member Portal account access by early next week, allowing members to renew, enroll in autopay, update contact information and register for webinars. This will also allow us to resume recruiting new members!
• We expect to reopen access to FEDHub, our online community, early next week.
• We expect members will regain access to website content requiring a login early next week as well.
• We do not yet have a date for officer portal functions or reports. Please bear with us; we want to get it right!

We understand how important it is to you to have access to NARFE’s many resources, and we will work diligently with our technology partners to complete this upgrade as quickly as possible. Please visit https://www.narfe.org/database-upgrade/ for updates.

Got Questions? Fill out the contact form at https://www.narfe.org/database-upgrade/ or send an email to [email protected].

We welcome your comments as we work to build a better NARFE!

Western North Carolina Devastated

Call for Volunteers and Donors

Additional information and ways to help can be found through the

NC Inclusive Disaster Recovery Network.

!! NARFE 2024 National Election Results !!

Our NARFE 2024 National Elections are in!! 

NARFE National President William “Bill” Shackelford was re-elected for a second term beginning January 1, 2025.

Cindy Renee’ Blythe will become NARFE’s national secretary-treasurer on January 1, 2025.

Robert Allen, regional vice president of Region X, representing Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

For NARFE Members Only – Result details can be found by clicking this link.  (Access may be limited due to the AMS update starting Monday, Oct. 7 and likely last until Monday Oct. 14, 2024.)

THANK YOU for participating!!!

And a Special Thank you!! to all those who ran for office, showing a willingness to lead and serve NARFE’s membership.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH

NCNARFE VIRTUAL CHAPTER MEETINGS

Purchase 2″ Gold Colored Metal NCNARFE 2021 Commemorative Coins!