Should Congress repeal provisions that reduce social security benefits for those who receive other benefits?
This bill repeals provisions that reduce Social Security benefits for individuals who receive other benefits, such as a pension from a state or local government. The bill eliminates the government pension offset, which in various instances reduces Social Security benefits for spouses, widows, and widowers who also receive government pensions of their own. The bill also eliminates the windfall elimination provision, which in some instances reduces Social Security benefits for individuals who also receive a pension or disability benefit from an employer that did not withhold Social Security taxes.
Sponsor: Rep. Garret Graves (Republican, Louisiana, District 6)
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Opponents say
• "The bill to repeal WEP and GPO, H.R. 82, includes no offsetting tax increases or spending cuts, and so would worsen Social Security financing, moving the trust fund’s reserve depletion date forward by a year and adding nearly $150 billion to the program’s costs over the next ten years." Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
• "Unfortunately, this elimination would be quite costly. The Social Security Administration's Chief Actuary estimates the bill would cost nearly $150 billion through 2031 and worsen Social Security's 75-year shortfall by 0.12 percent of taxable payroll. On its own, this would advance Social Security's insolvency by over a year, to early 2034 based on the Trustees' 2022 projections." Source: Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
Proponents say
• "The windfall elimination provision (WEP) and the government pension offset (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" Source: Rep. Garret Graves (Republican, Louisiana, District 6)
• "Thousands of AFSCME members in Louisiana dedicate their careers to public service – corrections officers who keep their communities safe; teachers’ aides who help children learn; health care workers who tend to the sick; transportation workers who maintain the roads; and many more. After working hard their entire lives and sending part of their paychecks to the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System (LASERS), they should all look forward to retiring with dignity. But under current law, these everyday heroes are cheated out of Social Security benefits they have earned, simply because they have a public employee pension. Rep. Graves’ Social Security Fairness Act of 2021 (H.R. 82) would finally correct this injustice, repealing the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), ensuring that no one is punished in retirement for the service they’ve provided during their working years" Source: Lloyd Permaul, Executive Director of AFSCME
