Federal Managers Association
FMA Working for You
- FMA Urges "Aye" Vote on GPO/WEP Repeal - November 11, 2024
If you spent a portion of your career working in the private sector, in addition to your federal service, you may be affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), which reduces Social Security benefits you earned. And the Government Pension Offset (GPO) targets and reduces spousal and survival Social Security benefits – disproportionately affecting widows.
After decades of effort, the House of Representatives will finally vote on the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82), which would repeal both the GPO and WEP. H.R. 82 will be considered on Tuesday, November 12. This has been an FMA issue brief for many years. FMA National President Craig Carter sent this letter urging all Members of Congress to vote for the bill.
FMA has worked closely with Reps. Garret Graves (R-LA) and Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), and many others on both sides of the aisle, to build support for H.R. 82, which is cosponsored by more than 75 percent of the House of Representatives. We appreciate every FMA member who has urged their members of Congress to cosponsor the bill to get us this far.
Now the Social Security Fairness Act will finally get an up-or-down vote on the House floor! The bill will be considered under suspension of the rules on Tuesday, November 12. Since it will be considered on the suspension calendar, it requires a 2/3 majority (290 votes) instead of a simple majority (218 votes) to pass. We are calling on you to contact your Representative and urge them to vote for the bill when it is considered on Tuesday. We have a chance to provide long-overdue relief on this issue for which FMA has fought for decades!
Click here to send this action letter.
As with all our action letters, you are free to make edits, and we encourage you to personalize it to include anecdotes on how this affects your livelihood and your family.
Remain mindful of the Hatch Act: any action should take place outside of a federal installation and on your own time! Please do not forward this message to any government email addresses!
Please feel free to share the above Action Letter link with colleagues, whether they are FMA members or not. They, too, can edit the letter as needed and add their voices to the thousands of FMA members calling for repeal of the GPO and WEP. (And if they are not yet FMA members, please encourage them to join!)