WEP/GPO. Will Congress finally end Social Security theft?

Every year I read that Congress is poised to overturn the WEP/GPO.

And every year Congress has the votes but never brings it to the floor.

What is the WEP/GPO?

I’ll go first.

I worked at jobs in which my boss and I paid into Social Security the first twenty years of my working life.

I made everything from semi-truck trailers to Schwinn bikes to 96 inch steel plates to build the Sears (now Willis) Tower.

Then I started my thirty year career in public schools as a teacher. I was no longer eligible for Social Security and by law contributed 9.5% of my salary into the Illinois Teacher Retirement System, a public pension.

It’s a good pension.

But when I retired eleven years ago I lost 60% of my Social Security benefit that I had earned and paid for and I am denied any spousal benefit in the unlikely case that I will outlive Anne.

I am a victim of pension theft because of these two federal regulations: The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Offset Provision (GPO). And so are other teachers in Illinois and 14 other states.

Now I hear again that there is growing support in Congress to repeal the WEP and the GPO. HR 82, the Social Security Fairness Act, is a bill proposed in Congress that would repeal the WEP/GPO.

The bill has overwhelming bipartisan support in the House of Representatives with 300 co-sponsors. That support has recently prompted House lawmakers to send a letter to leaders of the Ways and Means Committee to request a hearing. 

The Social Security Fairness Act has also been introduced in the Senate, with support from 49 leaders from both sides of the aisle.

Like I said, I hear this every year.

As a candidate in 2020 Joe Biden made getting rid of the WEP/GPO part of his list of promises.

That was nearly four years ago.

I’m not holding my breath.