WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: National Groups Applaud U.S. House Passage of Social Security Fairness Act to Eliminate the WEP & GPO, Provide Long Overdue Fairness to Police Officers, Firefighters, & Government Employees

The “Social Security Fairness Act” Would Eliminate Two Provisions of the “Social Security Act” That Unfairly Reduce Benefits for More Than 2 Million Americans Who Have Devoted Much or All of Their Careers to Public Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Following Tuesday evening’s passage of U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger’s bipartisan bill to eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), several organizations representing the interests of America’s public servants celebrated this historic step toward protecting Americans’ earned retirement benefits and urged a swift vote on the U.S. Senate floor.

The bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act is led in the U.S. House by Spanberger and U.S. Representative Garret Graves (R-LA-06). The legislation would eliminate both the WEP and the GPO, two provisions of Social Security that unfairly reduce or eliminate earned retirement benefits for more than 46,000 and 7,800 Virginia retirees, respectively — and more than 2 million Americans across the United States. Impacted retirees devoted much of their careers to public service — including police officers, firefighters, educators, and federal, state, and local government employees. Before Congress left Capitol Hill for the October district work period, Spanberger and Graves filed a discharge petition for their Social Security Fairness Act — which secured the required 218 signatures needed to force a vote on their bipartisan legislation.

Following U.S. House passage of the Social Security Fairness Act, the National Fraternal Order of Police, International Association of Fire Fighters, National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, National Association of Letter Carriers, American Federation of Teachers, and National Education Association applauded this major milestone and urged U.S. Senate leadership to swiftly bring the bipartisan legislation up for a vote and send it to the president’s desk to be signed into law.

“For 40 years, millions of public servants have seen their benefits stolen by a grossly unfair system. Now that the Social Security Fairness Act has passed the House, we are one step closer to fully repealing the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset. Make no mistake, this is a remarkable occasion,” said Patrick Yoes, National President, National Fraternal Order of Police. “I want to thank the bill’s sponsors, Representatives Garret N. Graves (R-LA) and Abigail D. Spanberger (D-VA), for their tremendous leadership and efforts which led to tonight’s victory. Their help and dedication every step of the way was invaluable.”

“Today’s vote was a major step toward ensuring fire fighters and other public servants receive the full retirement they’ve earned and paid for,” said Edward A. Kelly, General President, International Association of Fire Fighters. “While we’re proud of the work our team did to get this bill through the House, this is only half the battle. Now it’s time for Senators to step up and send this bill to the President’s desk.”

“We’ve waited over 40 years to get to this moment. We wholeheartedly applaud the representatives who have supported this bill, and especially those lawmakers who supported H.R. 82 during tonight’s supermajority vote. This passage ensures a significant step in a movement to bring the Social Security Fairness Act to a vote. In NARFE’s entire history, we have not made it this far in our concerted effort to repeal the harmful Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset. Now we urge the Senate to bring this bill to the floor for an up-or-down vote. With more than 60 sitting senators sponsoring or cosponsoring the bill, there should be adequate support to overcome a filibuster,” said William “Bill” Shackelford, National President, National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association. “The urgency surrounding this movement took a heightened tone in September, with bill sponsors Representative Garret Graves, R-LA, and Abigail Spanberger, D-VA, taking the legislative maneuver to file a discharge petition to prompt tonight’s floor vote. NARFE is forever grateful that there were 218 members of Congress who signed the petition to meet the threshold for us to get to this moment. The journey from introduction to getting this to the president’s desk has been fraught with challenges.”

“This is a major win for letter carriers and other federal annuitants who have been victimized by the WEP and GPO for decades,” said Brian Renfroe, President, National Association of Letter Carriers. “We appreciate Reps. Graves and Spanberger’s steadfast leadership and commitment to finally get this bill to the floor, and we commend every House member who voted ‘yes’ on this critical bill. With House passage, we are one step closer to finally righting this wrong that impacts so many CSRS retirees. We must keep up the momentum. NALC calls on the Senate to pass the Social Security Fairness Act as soon as possible and send it to the president’s desk.”

“The Social Security Fairness Act rights a wrong that has been unfair and uncorrected for far too long,” said Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers. “The Windfall Elimination Program and the Government Pension Offset have undermined the retirement security of educators, school staff, and state and local government workers for decades. When you contribute to Social Security, it should be there for you when you retire. Period. GPO and WEP created offsets and penalized workers. No one who works hard and pays into Social Security should retire and see their benefits slashed. We should always be fighting for solutions to ease the burdens on working families—not creating them. Thank you to Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Garret Graves (R-La.) for correcting this unfairness and leading the effort to remove these penalties once and for all.”

“Educators dedicate their lives to public service, but when it is time to retire, far too many find that they have been stripped of the Social Security and retirement benefits they earned due to an unjust and morally wrong penalty. Not only do the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) exclusively punish educators, firefighters, and police officers, but these laws discourage people from pursuing public service careers,” said Becky Pringle, President, National Education Association. “The House’s passage of the bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act is a major milestone and a huge victory brought forth by the tireless advocacy of educators and other public servants. Repealing GPO-WEP has been a decades-long priority for the National Education Association, and on behalf of our 3 million members, we thank Reps. Spanberger and Graves for their leadership on this issue. We urge the Senate to act with urgency and pass this bill as soon as possible so that we can finally help eliminate this unfair penalty on retirement benefits.”

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 for enough quarters to receive benefits. 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 — often offsetting benefits entirely.

The WEP currently impacts approximately 2 million Social Security beneficiaries, and the GPO impacts nearly 800,000 retirees.

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