BREAKING: The U.S. Senate passes the Spanberger-Graves Social Security Fairness Act to repeal WEP and GPO and sends a bill to the President’s desk to provide long-overdue justice for police officers, firefighters, educators, federal employees and local government employees

If enacted, the Social Security Fairness Act would eliminate two provisions of the Social Security Act that reduce earned benefits for nearly 2.5 million Americans who have dedicated much or all of their careers to public service

WASHINGTON, D.C – U.S. Representatives Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07) and Garret Graves (R-LA-06) released the following statement this evening after a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate voted to pass it Social Security Equity Acttheir bipartisan legislation to eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). The bill now goes to the president’s desk to be signed.

“Finally, Congress stood up for the millions of Americans – police officers, firefighters, teachers, federal workers and other local and state officials – who were working second jobs to provide for their families or starting second careers to support themselves can. “Congress has stood up for hundreds of thousands of widows and widowers who are being denied their spouses’ Social Security benefits while struggling to cope with their loss.” said Spanberger and Graves“Virginians, Louisianans and Americans across the country have pleaded with their representatives in Congress for more than four decades to listen to their stories and protect their retirement savings and the ability to support their families.” Today, the U.S. Senate has a bipartisan majority voted to correct this blatant injustice.”

The lawmaker continued“For years, we have worked with these advocates to build overwhelming bipartisan support among our colleagues, urge leadership to give these reforms the attention that affected Americans deserve, and ultimately force a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, to put an end to this theft.” . We will not take our foot off the gas until this bill reaches the President’s desk and becomes law to repeal WEP and GPO.”

Before Congress left Capitol Hill for the October district term, Spanberger and Graves filed a motion to dismiss them Social Security Equity Act — which secured the required 218 signatures needed to force a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. Last month, a bipartisan majority of the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass the bill and send it to the U.S. Senate.

BACKGROUND

The “Windfall Elimination Provision” and the “Government Pension Offset” have been added Social Security Act in 1983. These two provisions reduce or eliminate retirement benefits for more than 2.4 million Americans who have dedicated much of their careers to public service – including police officers, firefighters, educators and federal, state and local government employees. According to a 2024 bipartisan report, the WEP denies employment benefits to more than 1.7 million Americans and the GPO harms more than 420,000 Social Security recipients. Additionally, more than 320,000 American retirees are affected by both the WEP and the GPO.

Spanberger and Graves reintroduced this Social Security Equity Act in January 2023 at the start of the 118th Congress. In November 2023, Spanberger and Graves urged the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee to hold a hearing on reforms to the WEP and GPO – and a hearing was held later that month. In March 2024, lawmakers asked the committee to take the next step toward repealing WEP and GPO by imposing a surcharge on their bipartisan lines Social Security Equity Act. Spanberger and Graves have consistently pushed for a vote on the bill.

Currently, the WEP reduces the earned Social Security benefits of an individual who also receives a state pension from a job not covered by Social Security. For example, public school teachers who do not receive Social Security but work part-time or in the summer in jobs that require Social Security receive lower benefits, even though they pay enough quarters into the system to receive benefits. Likewise, the GPO affects the spousal benefits of individuals who work as federal, state, or local government employees—including police officers, firefighters, and educators—if the job is not covered by Social Security. The GPO cuts the benefits received by surviving spouses who also receive a state pension by two-thirds – and often equalizes the benefits entirely.

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