Congress makes history and passes bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act
During the final hours of the 118th Congress, the U.S. Senate voted 76 to 20 to pass the Social Security Fairness Act—historic legislation that ends the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision (GPO/WEP). These punitive and discriminatory penalties have robbed dedicated public service workers—including educators, firefighters, and police officers—of their hard-earned Social Security benefits.
Momentum for the passage picked up in November, when the United States House of Representatives passed the bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act by a vote of 327-75.
This is a historic victory for educators, public employees, and their families. We are thankful for the bipartisan effort of our Senator from Maine, Susan Collins (R-Maine), who coauthored this bill with Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and has been working on bringing justice to retired public service workers for over two decades.
Jesse Hargrove
MEA President
This legislation repealed two unjust provisions of the Social Security law that took a devastating toll on the retirement security of some public employees, including educators.
“The repeal of GPO and WEP is a historic win for public employees, including thousands of retired educators in Maine. We know that these unfair provisions make it more difficult to recruit and retain educators,” said MEA President Jesse Hargrove. “This is a historic victory for educators, public employees, and their families. We are thankful for the bipartisan effort of our Senator from Maine, Susan Collins (R-Maine), who coauthored this bill with Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and has been working on bringing justice to retired public service workers for over two decades.”
Over the past several decades, the National Education Association (NEA) and Maine Education Association (MEA) have spearheaded efforts to repeal the GPO and WEP, which unfairly penalized educators and other public service employees by depriving them of their earned benefits.
MEA’s NEA Directors have played a crucial role in lobbying at the federal level for the repeal of both penalties. Current NEA Director Rebecca Cole is among the many Mainers who lobbied on Capitol Hill for this historic moment. “We made history. This victory belongs to every one of the public service workers that flooded Congress with calls and emails from all 50 states and shows the power of our collective voice,” Cole said.
MEA-R member Crystal Ward is another MEA member who has been advocating for this change for more than 20 years. In the early 2000s, she and other MEA delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly successfully pushed to make the elimination of both offsets a legislative priority for the NEA. This critical issue remained a focus of NEA’s advocacy for nearly 25 years, until both provisions were repealed in December.
“In 2003, a group from Maine attended a public hearing in Washington, D.C. on this issue. This has been a legislative priority of NEA, MEA, and MEA-Retired since then. It has been a long, at times frustrating fight, but this victory is wonderful. Together we did it!” said Ward.
Key Facts About GPO/WEP
→9 out of 10:
The number of educators married to someone who earns Social Security who lost all their benefits because of GPO.
→83%:
The percentage of public employees were penalized by GPO-WEP are women.
→Government Pension Offset (GPO):
GPO reduces—or eliminates—the Social Security spousal or survivor benefits of people who also get a pension. 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% of those affected by the GPO lose their entire spousal or survivor benefit.
→Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP):
WEP reduces the social security benefits for people who work both public and private sector jobs.
→Maine:
WEP
Total Affected: 20,498
Retired Workers: 19,909
Disabled Workers: 81
Spouses and Children: 508
GPO
Total Affected: 40,144
Spouses: 19,791
Widow(er)s: 20,353
Total: 60,642
→For more information about GPO/WEP visit maineea.org/gpowep
