House Ways and Means Committee to Hold Hearing on WEP and GPO
On Tuesday, April 16th, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing on bill H.R. 82 – the Social Security Fairness Act. This bill repeals provisions that reduce Social Security benefits for individuals who receive other benefits, such as a pension from a state or local government where they did not pay into Social Security. Also, the bill eliminates the government pension offset, which in various instances reduces Social Security benefits for spouses, widows, and widowers who also receive government pensions of their own. To read the press release from U.S. Representative Garret Graves here…
Good Morning. I am a Texas Retired Teacher. I have worked and contributed to Social Security – outside of teaching – since I was 14 years old. According to the Social Security website, I have enough quarters to qualify for my benefit when I reach retirement age with SS. I believe it is unfair that almost all of my benefits are taken from me. I have worked outside of teaching longer than I have worked in the teaching field.
Hi Carolyn,
We understand your feelings, which are shared by many others. All we can offer is information about why these provisions were enacted decades ago, as reflected in this previously published article:
https://socialsecurityreport.org/ask-rusty-about-the-fairness-of-wep-and-gpo/
Here, too, is a link to a YouTube video webinar about the fairness of WEP and GPO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICnb7hcRXys
Russell Gloor
Certified Social Security Advisor
The AMAC Foundation