Baton Rouge Reporter

U.S. Representatives Garret Graves (R-LA-06) and Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07) announced that 119 of their colleagues, from both parties, signed their discharge petition for the Social Security Fairness Act on the same day it was filed. The lawmakers are now more than halfway to securing the 218 signatures required to force a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on their bipartisan bill aimed at eliminating the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO).

Graves and Spanberger filed the discharge petition yesterday morning to prompt a vote on legislation that seeks to remove WEP and GPO, provisions added to the Social Security Act in 1983. These provisions have been criticized for reducing or eliminating Social Security benefits for millions of Americans who have spent much of their careers in public service, including federal employees, police officers, firefighters, and educators. The Social Security Fairness Act currently has 327 cosponsors, significantly more than needed for passage in the U.S. House.

“Millions of public servants across our country — police officers, firefighters, federal, state, and local government employees, and educators — have waited more than 40 years for Congress to address this basic issue of fairness. We have worked together for years to build a broad bipartisan coalition behind our effort and encourage House leadership to stand up for these Americans who serve our communities and keep our country strong,” said Graves and Spanberger. “­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Our colleagues — both Republicans and Democrats — understand that the time is now to remove the penalties that reduce or eliminate the earned Social Security benefits of Americans who dedicated much of their careers to public service. Members on both sides of the aisle understand that every American deserves their full retirement benefits — just like everyone else who paid into the system. Momentum is building, and we will continue working to get this done.”

Graves and Spanberger reintroduced the Social Security Fairness Act in January 2023 at the start of the 118th Congress. In November 2023, they urged the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee to hold a hearing on reforms to WEP and GPO; a hearing was subsequently held later that month in St. George, Louisiana. In March 2024, they called on the Committee to take further steps by holding a markup session on their bipartisan bill.

Currently, WEP reduces earned Social Security benefits for individuals receiving a public pension from jobs not covered by Social Security—such as educators working part-time or during summers in jobs covered by Social Security but still facing reduced benefits despite paying into the system. Similarly, GPO affects spousal benefits for federal, state, or local government employees if their job is not covered by Social Security; it reduces by two-thirds any benefit received by surviving spouses who also collect a government pension.

The WEP impacts approximately 2 million beneficiaries while GPO affects nearly 800,000 retirees.