AFSCME working and retiree members’ decades of hard work to repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) – laws that have unfairly cut public service workers’ and their spouses’ Social Security benefits – reached a crucial milestone on Thursday.
The Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82) has received the necessary 218 signatures on a discharge petition, a rare move that jumps the bill forward to a vote on the House floor, bypassing opposition by anti-worker lawmakers, moving one step closer to the bill’s passage. But we must keep the pressure on to ensure no procedural obstacles are thrown in the way of a vote.
In a statement, AFSCME President Lee Saunders said: “We celebrate the progress made on bringing the Social Security Fairness Act to the front of the agenda, and we urge the House and Senate to move quickly and vote to pass this critical, bipartisan legislation. After a lifetime of strengthening our communities, our nation’s public service workers deserve what they sacrificed for – the freedom to retire with dignity.”
The effort to eliminate GPO and WEP has been a long fight, but after thousands of calls, letters and emails, AFSCME working and retiree members made historic progress toward undoing this injustice.
Representatives Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Garret Graves (R-La.) filed the bipartisan discharge petition to push this bill forward – a huge win for public service retirees and a testament to the power of collective action.
Lois Carson, president of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE), captured the spirit of that long fight at a press conference on Thursday. She passionately urged lawmakers to act, saying, “We paid into Social Security with every paycheck, just like everyone else. But now we're being told that our years of hard work don't count. It’s time to fix this.”
In Carson’s home state, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has been leading the fight to repeal GPO and WEP in the U.S. Senate. Earlier this year, he held a field hearing to bring greater attention to the public service workers and retirees impacted by these cuts.
AFSCME working and retiree members have always been at the forefront of cutting through congressional red tape, and while there is still more to do, this progress shows their relentless determination.
The GPO and WEP are outdated, unjust provisions that reduce or eliminate Social Security benefits for public employees simply because they also receive a public pension. These provisions punish people who have dedicated their lives to public service, and it’s time to end this injustice once and for all.
With the Social Security Fairness Act moving toward a vote in the House, we are closer than ever to securing full Social Security benefits for millions of public retirees.