Committee on Ways and Means
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20015
Dear Representative:
On behalf of 3 million members of the National Education Association, we would like to offer our views on the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) in connection with the Nov. 20 field hearing, “Social Security’s Disservice to Public Servants: How the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset Mistreat Government Workers.”
Together, the GPO and WEP deprive more than 2.7 million educators and other dedicated public servants of Social Security benefits they have earned.
- The WEP affects about 2 million people. It reduces the Social Security retirement, disability, spousal, or survivor benefits of people who work in jobs in which they pay Social Security taxes and jobs in which they do NOT pay Social Security taxes—for example, educators who take part-time or summer jobs to make ends meet.
- The GPO affects more than 700,000 people. It reduces—or eliminates—the Social Security spousal or survivor benefits of people who also get a pension based on federal, state, or local government employment NOT covered by Social Security. Two-thirds of the pension amount is deducted from the Social Security benefit—for someone getting a $1,500 pension, for example, the Social Security benefit is lowered by $1,000. More than 70 percent of those affected by the GPO lose their entire spousal or survivor benefit.
The following pages, originally published in NEA Today, contain interviews in which retired educators describe in their own words the hardships they endure due to the GPO and WEP. In addition, the GPO and WEP discourage people from becoming educators, especially those in mid-career threatened with the loss of Social Security benefits they have already earned.
NEA strongly supports legislation, like the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82), that fully repeals both the GPO and WEP. We thank you for the opportunity to submit these comments and stand ready to contribute to the effort to repeal the GPO and WEP.
Sincerely,
Marc Egan
Director of Government Relations
National Education Association
