WATCH Next Tuesday: U.S. House Hearing on Repealing the WEP and GPO

The Windfall Elimination Provision is one of the most important issues impacting SUAA members today, which is why we wanted to let you know that next week, on April 16th at 2 pm central, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing to examine the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). The committee will discuss the intended purposes, shortcomings, and alternatives to these policies.

You can watch the hearing on April 16 at 2 pm central by CLICKING HERE. That link will take you to the live-stream YouTube page of the House Ways and Means Committee.

The hearing will center around The Social Security Fairness Act, H.R. 82, which presents a significant opportunity to right a long-standing injustice. This legislation seeks to fully repeal the WEP and Government Pension Offset GPO, which have unfairly reduced the retirement benefits of dedicated educators, police officers, firefighters, and other public servants who have served or will serve our communities.

In March 2024, U.S. Representative Garret Graves (R-Louisianna) and Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-Virginia) called on the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee to hold a markup on their bipartisan bill, H.R. 82 – the Social Security Fairness Act, to fully repeal both the WEP and the GPO.

“Louisiana and America’s teachers, firefighters, police, and others have been punished for decades for their public service. There could not be a better time than now to fix the punitive policy that has robbed these folks of the Social Security they earned,” said Graves. "The Committee has taken great measures to ensure fairness and thoughtfulness in this reform effort which is why we support the Committee to take this bold step.”

H.R. 82 has overwhelming bipartisan support in the House with over 300 co-sponsors. All U.S. Representatives of the Illinois delegation have signed on as co-sponsors, except for two: Rep. Mary Miller (R-Quincy/Oakland) and Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Peoria/Rochelle).

SUAA supports the repeal of the Social Security Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset and, as this issue has been so crucial to many of our members, we hope you will be able to watch live, or view a recording of the committee hearing at the YouTube link listed above, so you can follow along as H.R. 82 moves through the legislative process in Washington, D.C.