We congratulate National Secretary Kelly Reyes and National Director Donald Dick on their re-election to our board. Welcome to Sonya Rangel, PMA Lonestar Chapter President, who will join our National Board on January 1, 2021. Thank you to all of the candidates who participated in our election!
Last call for Open Season! To help you make the best choice for yourself and your family, PMA is offering our members complimentary access to the Consumers' Checkbook Guide to Health Plans for Federal Employees. To take advantage of this valuable benefit, please sign up using this exclusive link. You have until December 14 to make your selections.
We continue to monitor negotiations for our budget. Today, the Congress passed a one-week continuing resolution to allow more time to wrap up negotiations long-term funding. PMA anticipates that the president will sign this CR. However, we still are hearing a lot of uncertainty around whether the president will sign those final bills next week. Our contacts in both chambers are confident they can pass legislation but the Senate is unsure of its ability to overcome a veto. So, for now, it seems we will likely be back to work on Monday but anything can happen so please keep an eye on the news or on our website.
The president signed an Executive Order granting leave for December 24. Please be sure you (and your team) take a look at how this will impact your use-or-lose annual. There is talk in the Congress about temporarily increasing the carry-over limit for annual leave but we cannot guarantee the bill will become a law at this time.
Please see the attached article from Wade Guemmer, PMA's financial advisor. Wade put together important information on the I Fund. As a reminder, a benefit of your membership is a free consultation with Wade and he offers discounted rates for our members who choose to form a deeper relationship with his firm. Please be sure to take advantage of this valuable resource!
PMA’s National Board is looking for members throughout the country who are willing to consider serving as chapter president. We’re also always happy to hear from members who’d like to found a local chapter in their area. Local chapters are active around the country and work with local executives, FEBs, and GLCs to promote the interests of management. Chapter presidents also attend national calls quarterly with the National Board as members of our Association Leadership Committee. The Committee will participate in PMA's modernization project, which gets underway starting on Monday! The time commitment is minimal and it’s a great way to improve conditions in your office! If you or someone you know is interested, please reply to our newsletter and we will connect you with resources to get started.
Please be sure to check out this year's CFC annual drive! From their site, you can find a CFC-approved charity and learn more about the campaign. If you'd like to support your fellow Federal workers, please consider supporting our official charity, the Federal Employee Education & Assistance Fund (FEEA), CFC #11185. FEEA works hard to offer financial assistance, childcare, tutoring services, and so much more for Feds. They are the only charity expressly dedicated to supporting the Civil Service. You have until January 15th to sign up! Don't forget that the CARES Act provides a new charitable contributions deduction for people who don't itemize - most taxpayers can take up to $300 over and above their standard deduction.
There’s never been a more important time to become a PMA member. Our voice is becoming louder and our leaders are listening. Through our consultative relationship with IRS HQ, we’ve worked to resolve questions, concerns, and inconsistencies around performance pay, leave administration, professional liability, retirement, safety, and leadership succession to name only a few. We are working diligently to strengthen our existing relationships throughout the IRS and to develop new relationships throughout government and with our sponsors so that we can grow our impact. We do all of this and more for a mere $3.50 per pay period – an incredible value. I ask each of you to encourage your peers in the non-bargaining unit to consider signing up using the attached form - please forward this newsletter to one person in your network who might benefit from our advocacy and information. If you know a retiree who would benefit from our advocacy, we offer lifetime memberships to them for a one-time $100 payment. Membership also comes with many additional benefits such as discounted rates from our sponsors GEICO and FEDS Protection.
Don't forget to follow PMA on social media! You can forward this email to your personal address to check out our Facebook and Twitter pages. We are working to better leverage these tools so we can keep in touch with each of you. Soon we will debut our Instagram and LinkedIn pages as we continue to work on refreshing our virtual toolkit.
To ring in the new year, our partner Eargo will host a presentation for our members and anyone hoping to learn more about PMA and Eargo's support of the Civil Service. We will share more details soon but please set aside January 14 from 1-2PM Eastern to learn about Eargo's offerings - no cost hearing aids for FEHB participants. Learn more here.
Our friends at FEEA will join us on January 27 from 2-3PM Eastern to discuss the many ways FEEA works to keep #FedsHelpingFeds. Please plan to attend to learn more about their grant and loan programs, tutoring services, and much more.
