Action Alert #110 – It’s Time to push WEP & GPO Repeal!

Congress is looking at ways to make life better for everyone who has been affected by the pandemic.  They are under pressure to fix the Federal support system, AND THERE IS MORE PRESSURE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY!

Well over half the Members of the House of Representatives signed on to support last year’s bill to REPEAL THE WEP/GPO.  We need to remind them again of how urgent this is:

Be sure to include this information when you tell your story:

This unfair trick of Social Security has taken away money that I earned and that I was expecting to get. (or something like this)

  1. Your name (your age)
  2. Where you are from– if you are from their state.  Or the national organization, Social Security Fairness, you represent, if from another state
  3. “I am affected by the Government Pension Offset and/or the Windfall Elimination Provision”
  4. Number of years you worked in public, non-Social Security covered job that gives you a pension  
  5. Years you worked in FICA (Social Security) earning job and/or Years married to a SS earner (and not earning your own SS)
  6. Amount you lose each month/year or total lost since retirement
  7. The effect on your retirement–had to sell house, hard to pay for healthcare, needed to rent out rooms in your house to make the mortgage, had to work longer etc.
  8. When you found out that you would not get the Social Security benefits that you had counted on and how that affected your financial planning.

Tell them some of these facts they may not be aware of:

  • The offsets affect people who have fully earned Social Security retirement or spousal benefits.
  • Both the GPO and the WEP cause lower income people to lose a larger percentage of their retirement income than they do for wealthier retirees.
  • Currently, nearly half a million retired women lose ALL their earned spousal and survivor benefits.
  • The cost to repeal both the GPO and the WEP is less than 2% of what Social Security pays out in benefits every year.
  • The law requiring public employers to inform new employees that the offsets might affect their Social Security only became law in January, 2005. Many people still don’t understand the cuts to their benefits that are coming. 
  • Cutting earned Social Security benefits discourages qualified people from becoming the teachers and public servants we need. The offsets also rob communities of the higher income many seniors could contribute. 

Both the offsets are bad law.

The formulas are indefensible.

It is time to repeal the WEP and the GPO!

Check whether your Member of Congress (Representative or Congressman/woman) has signed on: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/82/cosponsors?r=1&s=1&searchResultViewType=expanded