REPEAL OF THE WINDFALL ELIMINATION PROVISION AND GOVT. PENSION OFFSET
By Frank Fota, LTC, USA (Ret.), VFW Post 3103 Auxiliary

As a member of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), I occasionally advocate for Federal legislation that benefits Federal Retirees (e.g., the Social Security Fairness Act or H.R. 82).  This week, the House of Representatives passed the Social Security Fairness Act, a bill that will repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) to protect the retirement benefits earned by over two million police officers, firefighters, educators, and federal, state and local government employees.


The bill was co-authored by Louisiana Republican Congressman Garret Graves and Virginia Democratic Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger.  If passed by the Senate and signed into law by the president, Federal retirees who receive pensions will receive full Social Security benefits.


Sean Michael Newhouse, Staff Reporter for Government Executive says, "The WEP reduces the Social Security benefits of retired federal employees who spent a portion of their careers in the private sector in addition to a federal, state or local government job where Social Security is not intended as an element of their retirement income, such as the Civil Service Retirement System. And the GPO reduces spousal and survivor Social Security benefits in families with retired government workers.”

Advocates for the repeal of the WEP and GPO have pressed Congress to repeal these unfair provisions of Federal law for the past four decades.  Those affected by the WEP and GPO believe that it penalizes them for their public service.

The Senate is currently focused on confirming judicial nominees for the Biden Administration and time is short for the Senate to take up the bill before the end of the term on January 3rd.  However, advocates in the Senate could attach the bill to the National Defense Authorization Act or to a continuing resolution to fund the government past December 20th.

For more information, see In Focus, Congressional Research Service, "Social Security: The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO),” Updated February 28, 2024.