Legislation repealing Social Security’s WEP and GPO Advances in House

With more than 290 co-sponsors, the House Ways and Means Committee passed the Social Security Fairness Act (HR 82) by voice vote, putting it one step closer to a full floor vote.

The government pension offset (GPO) and the windfall elimination provision (WEP)

The proposed law would repeal the GPO and WEP provisions. These provisions limit or eliminate Social Security payments for people covered by a government-sponsored guaranteed pension plan, such as federal employees covered under the CSRS.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL), secured 299 co-sponsors, allowing it to be reviewed for a floor vote under the House rules’ Consensus Calendar process.

After receiving at least 290 co-sponsors, a Congress member can submit a request to the House Clerk to place their bill on the Consensus Calendar. If the proposal has at least 290 co-sponsors for 25 legislative days and the Committee Jurisdiction doesn’t report it, it’ll be put on the Consensus Calendar. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi can put legislation on the Consensus Calendar for a vote in front of the full House of Representatives.

On July 15, 2022, Davis submitted a motion to place the Social Security Fairness Act on the Consensus Calendar. The legislation’s 25-day calendar requirement was fulfilled on Tuesday, September 22, 2022. Davis pleads with Speaker Pelosi and House leadership to allow an immediate vote on this bill.

He announced that their bipartisan ‘Social Security Fairness Act’ has accomplished another significant legislative milestone. Within the next several days, they’ll have satisfied the House’s Consensus Calendar requirements. Speaker Nancy Pelosi must allow for a vote. Millions of public servants around the country who are unfairly penalized under the Social Security Act deserve it. He believes that’s why their measure has a bipartisan supermajority in the House. 

NARFE Support

The NARFE published a statement supporting the proposal.

WEP and GPO have denied public employees their full Social Security benefits for far too long. “Federal employees, teachers, police officers, firefighters, and others earned pensions as a result of their service, and Social Security benefits as a result of their or their spouses’ private-sector—or other covered—employment,” stated NARFE National President Ken Thomas. “However, those earned Social Security payments are lowered just because they received a public sector pension.”

He stated that for decades, NARFE has advocated for the elimination of these onerous fines. Bills have been submitted in each Congress, frequently with the support of a majority of House members. Despite this, the measure has never been considered in committee—until now. The House Committee on Ways and Means has made the most progress on this topic in history by passing the Social Security Fairness Act. That’s quite an accomplishment.

Contact Information:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 9568933225

Bio:
Rick Viader is a Federal Retirement Consultant that uses proven strategies to help federal employees achieve their financial goals and make sure they receive all the benefits they worked so hard to achieve.

In helping federal employees, Rick has seen the need to offer retirement plan coaching where Human Resources departments either could not or were not able to assist. For almost 14 years, Rick has specialized in using federal government benefits and retirement systems to maximize retirement incomes.

His goals are to guide federal employees to achieve their financial goals while maximizing their retirement incomes.