Financial Regulation News: Members of Congress will force House vote on Social Security Fairness Act

FINANCIAL REGULATION NEWS, KIM RILEY

When Congress returns to Capitol Hill next month, two members plan to file a discharge petition to force a vote on the U.S. House floor on their bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act.

The bill, H.R. 82, was introduced in January 2023 by sponsor and lead cosponsor, respectively, U.S. Reps. Garret Graves (R-LA) and Abigail Spanberger (D-VA).

If enacted, the proposed legislation would eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), two provisions of the Social Security Act that the lawmakers say unfairly reduce or eliminate Social Security benefits for millions of Americans who have devoted much of their careers to public service. 

Currently, the WEP reduces the earned Social Security benefits of an individual who also receives a public pension from a job not covered by Social Security. 

For example, educators who do not earn Social Security in public schools but who work part-time or during the summer in jobs covered by Social Security have reduced benefits, even though they pay into the system just like others, according to the lawmakers. 

Likewise, the GPO affects the spousal benefits of people who work as federal, state, or local government employees — including police officers, firefighters, and educators — if the job is not covered by Social Security. The GPO reduces by two-thirds the benefit received by surviving spouses who also collect a government pension.

The WEP currently impacts approximately two million Social Security beneficiaries, while the GPO impacts nearly 800,000 retirees.

“For more than 40 years, millions of Americans — police officers, teachers, firefighters, and other local and state public servants — have been stripped of their Social Security benefits as an unjust penalty for devoting much of their careers to serving their communities and fellow Americans,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement released Monday. 

Americans deserve their full retirement benefits — just like every other American who has paid into Social Security, they added.

“For years, we have worked together to build bipartisan support for this effort and urge House leadership to take real action to right this wrong,” said the members. “As those efforts have stalled, we are using every tool at our disposal to finally get this done.”

The bill has been stalled in the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee since its introduction on Jan. 9, 2023. The companion bill, the same-named S. 597, has also languished since its introduction in March 2023 in the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

Currently, H.R. 82 has a total of 325 cosponsors, which is above and beyond the 218 signatures required on the discharge petition to force House leadership to bring it to the floor for a vote.

“The time to address this basic issue of fairness is now,” said Graves and Spanberger. “We look forward to our colleagues joining us in removing these unjust penalties on millions of Americans who support our neighbors, protect our communities, and keep our country strong.”