Spanberger, Graves Announce Plan to File Discharge Petition for Social Security Fairness Act, Push to Force U.S. House Vote on Bipartisan Bill to Eliminate WEP & GPO

The Bipartisan “Social Security Fairness Act” Now Has 325 Cosponsors — More Than Enough to Guarantee the Legislation Would Pass on the U.S. House Floor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Representatives Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07) and Garret Graves (R-LA-06) today announced that — when Congress returns to Capitol Hill next month — the pair will lead an effort to force a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on their bipartisan legislation to eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO).

Spanberger and Graves will file a discharge petition to force a vote on the U.S. House floor on their bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act. The Social Security Fairness Act would eliminate both the WEP and the GPO, two provisions of the Social Security Act that unfairly reduce or eliminate Social Security benefits for millions of Americans who have devoted much of their careers to public service — including federal employees, police officers, firefighters, and educators. The legislation now has 325 cosponsors — far more than the 218 signatures required on the discharge petition to force House Leadership to bring the legislation to the floor for a vote.

“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. These Virginians, Louisianans, and Americans across our country deserve their full retirement benefits — just like every other American who has paid into Social Security,” said Spanberger and Graves. “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. As those efforts have stalled, we are using every tool at our disposal to finally get this done.”

Spanberger and Graves continued, “The time to address this basic issue of fairness is now. Our Social Security Fairness Act is supported by a broad, bipartisan coalition of more than 325 lawmakers — far more than the majority necessary for the discharge petition to succeed or for the bill to pass on the U.S. House floor. 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.”

BACKGROUND

Spanberger and Graves reintroduced the Social Security Fairness Act in January 2023 at the start of the 118th Congress. In November 2023, Spanberger and Graves urged the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee to hold a hearing on reforms to the WEP and GPO — and a hearing was held later that month. In March 2024, the lawmakers urged the Committee to take the next step to eliminate the WEP and GPO by holding a markup on their bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act. Spanberger and Graves have consistently pushed for a vote on the bill.

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. 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 2 million Social Security beneficiaries, and the GPO impacts nearly 800,000 retirees.

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