House Passes Social Security Fairness Act, Repeals Unfair Provisions

House of Representatives Approves Social Security Fairness Act

WASHINGTON—In a significant legislative move, the House of Representatives has passed the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82). This act aims to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), which have been criticized for reducing or eliminating Social Security benefits for numerous workers.

AFT President Randi Weingarten expressed her support for the legislation, stating, “The Social Security Fairness Act rights a wrong that has been unfair and uncorrected for far too long. The Windfall Elimination Program and the Government Pension Offset have undermined the retirement security of educators, school staff, and state and local government workers for decades. When you contribute to Social Security, it should be there for you when you retire. Period. GPO and WEP created offsets and penalized workers. No one who works hard and pays into Social Security should retire and see their benefits slashed. We should always be fighting for solutions to ease the burdens on working families—not creating them. Thank you to Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Garret Graves (R-La.) for correcting this unfairness and leading the effort to remove these penalties once and for all.”

Roger Boudreau, president of Rhode Island AFT’s retiree chapter, also commented on the legislation's impact, saying, “I’ve worked with and advocated for Rhode Island seniors from across our great state since retiring from the teaching profession. My activism is driven by the belief that older Americans deserve to retire with dignity after years spent in the workforce and caring for their families. But because of the WEP and GPO, there are nearly 3 million retired public service workers whose earned Social Security benefits are being substantially reduced by 40 percent or more, or in some cases eliminated entirely. For those retirees, and the more than 6 million current public employees who would have been affected in the future, we join in thanking Congress for their decision to bring about fairness and dignity.”

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) represents 1.8 million educators and workers across various sectors, including pre-K through 12th-grade teachers, higher education faculty, nurses, and government employees.