Spanberger, Graves pushing House leaders on Social Security Fairness Act

Abigail Spanberger and Garrett Graves will file a discharge petition to force a U.S. House floor vote on their Social Security Fairness Act, which is written to eliminate two provisions of the Social Security Act that reduce or eliminate Social Security benefits for people who have devoted much of their careers to public service.

The Windfall Elimination Provision reduces the earned Social Security benefits of an individual who also receives a public pension from a job not covered by Social Security. For example, educators who do not earn Social Security in public schools but who work part-time or during the summer in jobs covered by Social Security have reduced benefits, even though they pay into the system just like others.

The Government Pension Offset affects the spousal benefits of people 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 reduces by two-thirds the benefit received by surviving spouses who also collect a government pension.

The WEP currently impacts approximately 2 million Social Security beneficiaries; the GPO impacts nearly 800,000 retirees.

The legislation now has 325 cosponsors – far more than the 218 signatures required on the discharge petition to force House leadership to bring the legislation to the floor for a vote.

Spanberger, D-Va., and Graves, R-La., issued a joint statement on their bill:

“For more than 40 years, millions of Americans — police officers, teachers, firefighters, and other local and state public servants — have been stripped of their Social Security benefits as an unjust penalty for devoting much of their careers to serving their communities and fellow Americans. These Virginians, Louisianans, and Americans across our country deserve their full retirement benefits — just like every other American who has paid into Social Security. For years, we have worked together to build bipartisan support for this effort and urge House Leadership to take real action to right this wrong. As those efforts have stalled, we are using every tool at our disposal to finally get this done.

“The time to address this basic issue of fairness is now. Our Social Security Fairness Act is supported by a broad, bipartisan coalition of more than 325 lawmakers – far more than the majority necessary for the discharge petition to succeed or for the bill to pass on the U.S. House floor. We look forward to our colleagues joining us in removing these unjust penalties on millions of Americans who support our neighbors, protect our communities, and keep our country strong.”