The House of Representatives has passed the Social Security Fairness Act in a rare show of bipartisan support. The bill aims to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), which currently reduce Social Security benefits for individuals who receive pensions from employment not covered by Social Security. The WEP and GPO affect nearly 3 million Americans, primarily public servants such as police officers, firefighters, teachers, and various federal and local workers.
Under current regulations, these individuals receive lower Social Security benefits than those who have exclusively worked in jobs covered by Social Security. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-VA, stated, “These are firefighters who worked a second job to make ends meet, police officers who began a second career after leaving the force, teachers who took a summer job to cover the bills.”
Garrett Graves, R-LA, added, “This has been 40 years, 40 years of treating people differently.”
If passed, the Social Security Fairness Act would eliminate these penalties, allowing affected workers to receive full Social Security benefits irrespective of their other pensions. This change would potentially boost the retirement income for many public sector workers.
Reviewing Social Security adjustments
Verdaillia Turner, a retired Atlanta Public Schools teacher, is among the estimated 50,000 to 70,000 Georgians affected by WEP. “I’ve always worked another job while I was teaching school—all of my life. I’ve been working since I was 16,” Turner said. “What happens is that we are unduly penalized. We don’t get the money that we paid into.”
The bill has 63 cosponsors in the Senate, including Georgia Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
However, concerns about the cost could run into the billions of dollars, impacting the already troubled Social Security trust fund. Passing the Social Security Fairness Act through the House marks a crucial first step, but it still requires Senate approval and the President’s signature to become law. Supporters argue that repealing WEP and GPO is a matter of fairness for workers who have paid into the Social Security system and earned pensions through their public service.
