The effort to repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision (GPO/WEP) – a long-time FMA issue brief – continues to gain significant momentum in the 118th Congress.

Last month, the Senate version of the Social Security Fairness Act (S. 597) surpassed the 60-cosponsor threshold – enough votes to override a filibuster. More recently, on Tuesday, September 10, Representatives Garret Graves (R-LA) and Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) filed a discharge petition to expedite the will of the House and require a vote on the House version (H.R. 82). H.R. 82 has 326 cosponsors and is the second-most cosponsored bill in the 118th Congress. As of Friday, September 13, the discharge petition had 171 bipartisan signatories. 218 signatures would trigger a vote on the House floor.

“On behalf of the managers and supervisors currently serving or retired from the federal government, and whose interests are represented by the Federal Managers Association (FMA), we are grateful for the tireless work of Reps. Graves and Spanberger to repeal both the GPO and WEP and strongly support the discharge petition they filed this week,” FMA National President Craig Carter wrote in a press release. Carter met with staff of both Rep. Graves and Spanberger during his trip to Washington, D.C., during the week of September 9, meeting with Rep. Graves’ staff immediately after she delivered the discharge petition. FMA also met with staff from the office of Rep. David Valadao (R-CA), who signed the petition later that day.

“Consideration of the Social Security Fairness Act is long overdue, and it is time for the House to take action on a bill supported by 75 percent of the House. A bill with this much bipartisan support – the second-most cosponsored bill in the 118th Congress – needs to have its day on the House floor,” Carter wrote.

“FMA has long pushed for the repeal of these odious provisions that callously reduce or eliminate Social Security benefits for millions of public servants and their beneficiaries. This important bill is needed to prevent the unjust withholding of nearly $200 billion from these civil servants in the next ten years, and it is difficult to put into words the tragedy of the benefits that have been earned but kept from these public servants dating back to the 1980s. Support has never been greater for the overdue repeal of both the GPO and WEP, and it is vital to act now. FMA supports the discharge petition to finally bring the bill to the House floor for a vote and restore the benefits millions of public servants have earned but have been denied.”

The Social Security Government Pension Offset law prevents government retirees who receive a government pension, but did not pay into Social Security, from collecting both a government annuity based on their own work, and Social Security benefits based on their spouse's work record. This is unfair to many spouses, especially widows, who often lose the Social Security protection their spouse provided for them. Under current law, a Social Security widow’s benefit is reduced by $2 for every $3 earned if the widow is eligible for a pension based on a public sector job that was not covered by Social Security. According to the Congressional Research Service, as of December 2022, more than 730,000 Social Security beneficiaries had their benefits reduced by the GPO, with 52 percent being widows. No such offset affects spouses receiving pensions from private sector employers.

The Windfall Elimination Provision is another inequity that disadvantages many federal retirees receiving Social Security benefits and a federal pension. It reduces the Social Security benefits federal retirees receive based on the number of years they served in a federal position that did not require their payment of Social Security taxes. According to the Congressional Research Service, as of December 2022, the WEP impacts approximately two million people – roughly 3 percent of all Social Security beneficiaries.