Bill to Repeal WEP and GPO Reintroduced in House

In January, Rep. Rodney Davis, R-IL, reintroduced the Social Security Fairness Act, H.R. 82, to fully repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). These policies significantly reduce or eliminate the earned Social Security benefits of federal, state, and local government retirees and their surviving spouses. Join NARFE’s call-to-action campaign to garner support for and increase cosponsors of the bill by visiting NARFE’s Legislative Action Center at www.narfe.org.

According to a December 2020 report from the Congressional Research Service, the WEP affects 1,948,427 beneficiaries, including 1,836,538 retired workers, 12,520 workers with disabilities, and 99,369 spouses and children. The GPO affects 716,662 beneficiaries, 47 percent of whom are widows or widowers. About 71 percent of those affected by the GPO had their benefits fully offset, while 29 percent had their benefits partially offset.

Government retirees affected by the WEP are those who collect both an annuity from their government jobs (during which they did not contribute to Social Security) and Social Security benefits from private employment. This includes federal retirees who began their employment prior to 1983 and are covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), under which they did not pay the 6.2 percent payroll tax toward Social Security, and, therefore, did not earn any Social Security benefits based on their federal work. The WEP does not apply to federal employees covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), as they pay the 6.2 percent payroll tax and earn Social Security benefits based on their government work.

Social Security benefits are calculated using a progressive formula in which an individual’s average indexed monthly earnings (AIME) are multiplied by three progressive factors—90 percent, 32 percent and 15 percent—at different levels of AIME, resulting in the basic monthly benefit. Under the WEP, the 90 percent factor is reduced to as low as 40 percent, resulting in a much lower benefit for those affected.

NARFE is calling on members of the House of Representatives to cosponsor the Social Security Fairness Act, H.R. 82, legislation to repeal the WEP and GPO. Together, these provisions reduce the earned Social Security benefits of more than 2.5 million people nationwide. Contact your legislators and urge them to cosponsor this bill by visiting NARFE’s Legislative Action Center at www.narfe.org and sending a personalized message to your lawmakers.