The WEP/GPO. Maybe this time.

300 co-sponsors but will it come to a vote?

My art is on Instagram @klonskyart.

The House Ways and Means Committee Tuesday ordered without recommendation to the full House H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act of 2021, which repeals Social Security’s Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), a law that reduces the Social Security benefits of certain public workers — like teachers — who receive pensions and don’t pay Social Security.

The bill also eliminates the government pension offset (GPO), which in various instances reduces Social Security survivors’ benefits for spouses, widows and widowers who also receive government pensions of their own.

As an example of the individual impact the WEP/GPO, I worked in the private sector for 20 years before becoming a teacher and becoming a member of the state retirement system. For those 20 years I paid Social Security as did my employer.

When I retired my Social Security benefit was reduced by two thirds, barely enough to pay for my Medicare.

It was outright theft.

If in the dubious case of Anne dying before me, the GPO denies me any Social Security spousal benefit.

It is grossly unfair to thousands of public employees and teachers who are in public pension systems.

Once again, as in past years, a majority of Congressperson’s have signed on as co-sponsors.

However, that is no guarantee repeal will ever come to a vote.

House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John Larson, D-Conn., has been pressing House lawmakers to vote on his comprehensive Social Security 2100 bill, but chances of that happening by year-end appear to be unlikely.

As the Social Security Administration explains, the WEP can affect how it calculates workers’ retirement or disability benefit.

“If you work for an employer who doesn’t withhold Social Security taxes from your salary, such as a government agency or an employer in another country, any retirement or disability pension you get from that work can reduce your Social Security benefits,” the SSA explained.

House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said Tuesday during the markup that while H.R. 82, which has 300 co-sponsors, is “very popular.”

Okay.

Prove it.