U.S. Reps. Garret Graves (R-LA) and Abigail Spanberger (R-VA) have introduced legislation in the House that seeks to eliminate some old federal statutes that could hurt Social Security.
They introduced the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82), which would repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). These are two Reagan-era federal laws that can result in massive cuts to a retiree’s Social Security payments, the lawmakers said.
The WEP is a formula used to reduce Social Security benefits for individuals who paid into both civil service pensions and Social Security throughout their careers. While the WEP was intended to prevent “windfalls,” what it does in practice is unfairly penalize public servants by reducing their retirement checks.
The GPO reduces the spousal dependent benefits of individuals who did not pay into Social Security themselves by two-thirds of their government pension. In some cases, this results in individuals receiving zero Social Security benefits, even if their spouse paid in their entire career.
“WEP and GPO only provide a disincentive or penalize thousands of Louisiana’s public servants. Our teachers, police officers, firefighters, emergency responders, and other local and state public servants – and their spouses or survivors – have been wrongly penalized. We will keep fighting to get them the full retirement benefits they paid for, including those who have already retired. We’re not giving up,” Graves said.
The bill has 128 cosponsors in just four weeks.
“As a Member of Congress representing thousands of federal employees and retirees, I remain committed to eliminating the WEP and the GPO. Last Congress, we saw massive, bipartisan support for delivering this long overdue peace of mind to public servants in Virginia and across the country,” Spanberger said. “The Social Security Fairness Act recognizes the sacrifices that come with serving our communities, our Commonwealth, and our country. I want to thank Congressman Graves for his continued partnership on this issue — and I am looking forward to finally righting this wrong and making sure America’s federal employees, teachers, police officers, and firefighters receive the retirement security they deserve.”
The bill is supported by several organizations, including the Fraternal Order of Police.
“The WEP and GPO provisions do not eliminate a windfall for workers; instead, they have proved to be a windfall for the Federal government at the expense of public employees. That’s not right and it’s not fair. It is incumbent on Congress to repeal these inequitable provisions and pass the ‘Social Security Fairness Act,’ which will also help to stimulate the economy by putting additional cash in the pocket of retired public employees as they and their families struggle in these trying times,” Patrick Yoes, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said.