Some changes are coming to Social Security that will be great for the people who depend on it. The 1983 Windfall Elimination Provision and the 1977 Government Pension Offset Provision are finally being looked at by the House.
These provisions have been making life hard for some people. To put it simply, these rules stop workers from getting all of their benefits. But there’s more to it than that.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) says that the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) is a formula used to change Social Security worker benefits for people who get “non-covered pensions” but need Social Security benefits because they have other Social Security-covered earnings.
A non-covered pension is one that is paid by a company that does not take Social Security taxes out of your pay. This usually means that the company is not in the United States or is a state or local government. Congress passed the WEP so that workers with pensions that aren’t covered wouldn’t get higher Social Security benefits as if they had worked for a long time and made low wages.
The Government Pension Offset Provision, or GPO, changes the amount of spousal or widow(er) benefits people who get “non-covered pensions” get from Social Security. A non-covered pension is one that is paid by a company that does not take Social Security taxes out of your pay.
This usually means that the company is not in the United States or is a state or local government. The GPO was created by Congress in 1977 to help make sure that spousal and widow(er) benefits would be about the same for people whose lifetime earnings were covered or not covered.
The GPO cuts the spousal or widow(er) benefit by two-thirds of the monthly non-covered pension. Depending on the amount of the non-covered pension, it can cut a person’s spousal or widow(er) benefit in whole or in part. This is what the SSA says.
This was a good idea in theory and when it was first put into place, but pensions are not the same as they were when the rules were made. Now, this rule means that workers or widowed spouses who have worked in both the private and public sectors get a much smaller pension that isn’t enough to live on. Based on their record, they should be able to get a higher amount of money.
The Social Security Fairness Act of 2023, or H.R. 82, would change Title II of the Social Security Act. It would get rid of the WEP and the GPO and let all public employees get their full benefits, no matter what job they have or how they pay into Social Security.
The passing of The Social Security Fairness Act
There was a lot of support for the Social Security Fairness Act across party lines. It was backed by Reps. Garrett Graves (R-LA) and Abigail Span Berger (D-VA), Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Susan Collins (D-ME), and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), among others.
The act will probably pass with a voice vote, but if a recorded vote is asked for, it will need two-thirds of the votes instead of just a majority to pass.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office put some damper on the bill by saying that getting rid of the WEP and GPO would cost about $196 billion over the next ten years if it passes. This would put even more financial stress on the already overstretched Social Security program.
However, statements from police officers, firefighters, and public servants who have not been getting their full benefits and who spoke out about how the WEP and GPO provisions introduced in June had affected them may have been enough to sway enough members that they did not need a super majority.
The Senate will have to vote on the measure after it passes the House. The measure is likely to pass without any problems because it is supported by many people. If it does pass and is signed into law by the president, it will apply to benefits due after December 2023.
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