Government Pension Offset/Windfall Elimination Provision:

Today, there are around 6.8 million state and local workers participating in public pension plans not covered by Social Security.  Massachusetts is home to more non-covered workers than most: 97% of state and local workers.  However, these public employees aren’t totally outside the system—there are provisions of Social Security that impact them—because they have a spouse contributing to Social Security or because they worked in a position covered by Social Security at some point in their careers.

Currently, the Government Pension Offset (GPO) reduces Social Security benefits for the spouse of a person receiving a government pension.  It was enacted to mirror the dual-entitlement rule of Social Security to reduce spousal benefits for those who, in theory, don’t need it because they receive their own benefit.  The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) was designed to remove an unintended advantage in the Social Security benefit formula for some people receiving a government pension – but instead it causes hard-working people to lose a significant portion of the benefits they earned in return for a lifetime of hard work and public service.

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I am a cosponsor of S. 206, the Social Security Fairness Act of 2007, which repeals both Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) provisions. I have been a cosponsor of similar legislation for the past decade.

I serve as Chairman of the Finance Subcommittee on Social Security Pensions, and Family Policy and on November 6, 2007, I chaired a hearing on the repeal of these provisions. Peggy Kane, a retired teacher from Massachusetts who is a widow, participated in the hearing and told how she was negatively impacted by the GPO.

I will continue to do all that I can to fight for the repeal of the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision during the 110th Congress.