BREAKING: US Senate Passes Spanberger-Graves Social Security Fairness Act to Eliminate WEP & GPO, Sends Bill to President’s Desk to Provide Long-Term Fairness to Police Officers, Firefighters, Educators, Federal Workers, and Local Government Employees

When signed into law, the Social Security Fairness Act would eliminate two provisions of the Social Security Act that reduce earned benefits for nearly 2.5 million Americans who have devoted much or all of their careers to public service

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Representatives Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07) and Garret Graves (R-LA-06) released the following statement tonight after a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate voted to pass Social Security Fairness Acttheir bipartisan legislation to eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). The bill is now on its way to the president’s desk to be signed into law.

“Finally, Congress stood up for the millions of Americans—police officers, firefighters, teachers, federal employees, and other local and state employees—who worked another job to care for their families or started another career to make ends meet. Congress emerged for the hundreds of thousands of widows and widowers who are denied their spouses’ Social Security benefits as they struggle with their losses.” Spanberger and Graves said“For more than four decades, Virginians, Louisianans, and Americans across the country have been asking their representatives in Congress to listen to their stories and protect their retirement security and ability to support their families. Today, a bipartisan majority in the United States Senate voted to correct this glaring injustice.”

The legislators continued“For years, we have worked with these advocates to build overwhelming bipartisan support among our colleagues, urge leadership to give these reforms the consideration that affected Americans deserve, and ultimately force a vote on the U.S. House floor to put a stop this theft. . We will not take our foot off the gas until this bill reaches the President’s desk and is signed into law to repeal the WEP and the GPO.”

Before Congress left Capitol Hill for the October district work session, Spanberger and Graves filed a discharge petition for their Social Security Fairness Act – which secured the necessary 218 signatures needed to force a vote in the US House. Last month, a bipartisan majority in the US House voted to pass the legislation and send it to the US Senate.

BACKGROUND

Windfall Elimination Provision and State Pension Offset were added Social Security Act in 1983. These two provisions reduce or eliminate pension benefits for more than 2.4 million Americans who devoted a large part of their careers to public service – including police officers, firefighters, educators and federal, state and local government employees. According to a non-partisan 2024 reportthe WEP denies earned benefits to more than 1.7 million Americans, and the GPO harms more than 420,000 Social Security beneficiaries. Additionally, more than 320,000 US retirees are affected by both the WEP and the GPO.

Spanberger and Graves reinstated Social Security Fairness Act in January 2023 at the start of the 118th Congress. In November 2023, Spanberger and Graves called on the US 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, lawmakers called on the committee to take the next step to eliminate the WEP and GPO by keeping a check 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 a person who also receives a public pension from a job that is not covered by Social Security. For example, educators who do not earn Social Security in public schools but work part-time or in the summer in jobs covered by Social Security have reduced benefits, even if they pay into the system for enough quarters to receive benefits. Likewise, the GPO affects spousal benefits for 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 are also collecting a public pension – often equalizing the benefits completely.

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