Urgent: Demand WEP/GPO Repeal Vote Now!
Feb 16, 2022 03:35 pm | SS Fairness
Rodney
Davis and Abigail Spanberger, original sponsor’s of HOUSE WEP/GPO REPEAL BILL, H.R. 82, ARE
ASKING HOUSE LEADERSHIP TO BRING THE BILL TO THE FLOOR FOR A VOTE NOW!
We need to back up our sponsors, Davis and Spanberger, by
bombarding the House decision-makers’ offices with demands for action.
- You can call
any Member of the House using a number from this easy list: https://www.house.gov/representatives
- Or check
their office website at: https://www.house.gov for a
contact page.
- Call and/or
email them a copy of the letter below, which Rodney Davis and Abigail
Spanberger sent to House Leaders.
- Call your
Congressperson’s home office, too, and talk to their legislative
aide.
We need to reach out to the House leadership first. Make sure
your own Member of Congress sees this same letter below. Thank you!
This letter was sent to these leaders:
- Nancy Pelosi, (415)
556-4862
Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 - Richard Neal, (202)
225-5601
Chairman, U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means Washington, D.C. 20515 - Kevin
McCarthy, (202) 225-2915
Minority Leader, U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 - Kevin
Brady, (202) 225-4901
Ranking Member, U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means Washington, D.C. 20515
February 15, 2022
Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader McCarthy, Chairman Neal, and Ranking
Member Brady:
We write to urge you to discharge H.R. 82, the Social Security
Fairness Act, from the Ways and Means Committee and bring it to the House floor
for a vote as soon as possible. Passing the Social Security Fairness Act will
immediately benefit millions of retired police officers, federal employees,
first responders, and other public servants. H.R. 82 has significant bipartisan
support – of the more than 7,700 bills introduced this Congress, only 18 have
more co-sponsors – and it’s time for the House to vote.
The Social Security Fairness Act would remove both the Windfall
Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) from the
Social Security Act. The WEP and the GPO have substantially reduced more than 2
million retired public sector employees’ Social Security benefits, affecting
about 4 percent of all Social Security beneficiaries. In 2020 the WEP reduced
benefits for 48,697 Virginians and 99,640 Illinoisians1 and the GPO reduced
benefits for 7,849 Virginians and 48,046 Illinoisians.2
When Congress passed the provisions in 1983, it intended to
remove a “windfall” for retirees who spent time in jobs not covered by Social
Security and also worked in other jobs where they did pay Social Security
taxes. In practice, the two provisions dramatically reduce the benefit of
low-paid public employees and create an inequity for those public sector
employees who also spent time in jobs covered by Social Security.
1 CRS “Social Security: The Windfall Elimination Provision.”
Update November 16, 2021. Available at: https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/98-35.pdf.
2 CRS, “Social Security: The Government Pension Offset.”
Updated February 8, 2021. Available at: https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/RL32453.pdf.
Worse still, the WEP and GPO use arbitrary and regressive
formulas to calculate their reductions to a retiree’s benefits. The WEP reduces
benefits for a retired worker with a public service pension by as much as $498
per month in 2021. Since the WEP formula applies to the first bracket of the
Social Security wage replacement formula, it causes a relatively large
reduction in benefits to lower-paid workers. The GPO reduces Social Security
benefits for spouses or survivors who also earned a pension by up to two-thirds
of their monthly pension benefits. The decision to reduce spousal benefits by
two-thirds was not based on any analysis, but an arbitrary amount decided in
conference between the two chambers in 1983.
Bipartisan legislation to repeal the WEP and the GPO has been
introduced in every Congress since at least 2001. Nearly 40 years after
Congress passed these provisions, the 117th Congress should be the one to
finally fix this long-standing inequity and protect the benefits of individuals
who made careers out of public service by voting on and passing the Social
Security Fairness Act.
Sincerely,
Abigail D. Spanberger,
Member of Congress
Rodney Davis, Member of Congress
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