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McKeon pushes bipartisan Social Security protection legislation |
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Thursday, 14 February 2008 |
Bill would ease penalties on teachers, firefighters and other public service professionals
The House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee considered H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act, as part of a greater hearing on Social Security benefits for economically vulnerable beneficiaries. Introduced by Reps. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) and Howard Berman (D-Van Nuys), the legislation would completely repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP).
“Here we are facing a teacher shortfall and a national push for high quality teachers to work in our classrooms, and yet we have a flawed system that penalizes the very same people we are trying to recruit,” stated McKeon. “California advocates for the Social Security Fairness Act have told me our state is witnessing upwards of 20,000 teachers leaving the profession each year, and rather than creating incentives, our government has disincentives in place for potential teachers to pursue a lifelong career in education.”
Under current law, the GPO reduces Social Security spousal benefits if the recipient has another government pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security. The GPO takes two-thirds of the government pension and subtracts that from the spousal benefit. If two-thirds of a person's government pension exceeds his/her spousal benefit, that person does not receive the spousal benefit. Many public employees did not prepare for a smaller Social Security benefit when they planned for retirement.
The windfall elimination provision that is currently in place reduces Social Security benefits for workers who also have pension benefits from employment not covered by social security, such as state pensions.
Although these provisions are only applicable to 13 states, they also affect people in many of America’s most populated states such as Massachusetts, Texas, Illinois, New York, and California The current law imposes harsh federal penalties on teachers, firefighters and other talented public service professionals upon retirement.
“It’s unfair to take a lifetime worth of retirement funds from our most valuable public servants. It’s unfair and intolerable,” said McKeon.
McKeon and Berman have been working on the issue since 2003. The bill currently has 336 co-sponsors. In an effort to give the legislation the greatest opportunity for floor consideration, McKeon and Berman hope to incorporate the bill into a larger legislative package of Social Security reform. -Press Release
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 21 February 2008 )
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