U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Susan Collins (R-ME) have joined 22 colleagues to co-sponsor a bill that seeks to provide public employees with full Social Security benefits.
The reintroduced legislation, the Social Security Fairness Act, would repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) from the Social Security Act, ensuring public sector workers and their families can receive full Social Security benefits after the two previous statutes reduced them.
“I’ve long said Alaska’s public sector workers who educate our children, protect us from harm, and serve the public good deserve the Social Security benefits they’ve worked for and earned,” Murkowski said. “Teachers, firefighters, police officers, local government workers, and other public servants are critical members of our communities—and this common sense, bipartisan legislation that I’ve supported every Congress since I’ve been in the Senate will repeal unfair deductions to their benefits.”
Brown said there is no reason law enforcement officers and teachers should not be able to retire with their full Social Security benefits.
“Social Security is one of the bedrocks of economic security in this country, and everyone should be able to share in the benefits,” he said. “This small fix will help these families have the peace of mind that their Social Security benefits will be there for them when they retire from a life of dedicated service to our communities.”
Collins said public servants nationwide have dedicated their professional careers to the service of their country but face reduced retirement benefits due to the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset.
“This important, bipartisan bill would eliminate these unfair provisions that have enormous financial implications for many public service employees, such as retired teachers and police officers,” she said.