"As in past years, a Congressional bill to repeal the unfair WEP/GPO has hundreds of Congressional sponsors in both the House and Senate. It has never made its way to a floor vote"- Fred Klonsky

 

This year more than 290 co-sponsors of the Social Security Fairness Act  (HR 82) made its way toward a possible full floor vote after the House Ways and Means Committee advanced the bill by voice vote last month.

When the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL), secured 299 co-sponsors it triggered a process that now allows it to be considered for a floor vote under House rules. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has the authority to bring legislation on the Consensus Calendar to the floor for a vote before the full House of Representatives.

But will she?

Davis filed a motion on July 15, 2022, to place the Social Security Fairness Act on the Consensus Calendar. The 25-days-on-the-Calendar requirement for the legislation was met Tues, Sept. 22,  2022.  Davis is urging Speaker Pelosi and House leadership to allow an immediate vote on this legislation.

“Our bipartisan ‘Social Security Fairness Act’ has reached another important legislative milestone,” said Davis on Tuesday. “In the next few days, we will have met the Consensus Calendar requirements outlined in the House. Speaker Pelosi must allow a vote. The millions of public service workers across this country who are being unfairly punished by the Social Security Act deserve it. That’s why a bipartisan supermajority of the House is cosponsoring our bill. Let’s get this done.”

A side-point. The WEP/GPO is federal law. The Illinois legislature and Governor have nothing to say about it.

-Fred Klonsky

 Commentary:

·                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 had 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.

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

 

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.

 

My first post about this crime was over 10 years ago in March 2012. Click here and scroll down for 19 previous articles on this subject:

glen brown: GPO/WEP (teacherpoetmusicianglenbrown.blogspot.com)