Democrats in Congress don’t want Republicans to be able to take credit or hogtie Social Security reforms that address inequities felt by some public employee pensioners. Thus Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is saying there may be a vote as early as this week on the Social Security Fairness Act. The vote would take place before the Senate goes into Republican control in January, and the Senate will recess soon for the holidays, which gets them out of Washington Dec. 21-31.
The legislation would repeal two Social Security provisions: the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, which reduce Social Security benefits for millions of individuals who earned defined benefits pensions through public service jobs, particularly those in systems in which they did not pay directly into Social Security, such as many in Alaska who worked for the state or for school districts.
The cost to taxpayers is not insignificant. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would cost nearly $190 billion over a decade. It also projected in a letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley last month that Social Security’s trust funds could “be exhausted roughly half a year earlier than it would be under current law” if the bill is passed into law.
Both Rep. Mary Peltola and Sen. Lisa Murkowski are co-sponsors of the legislation in their respective legislative bodies. If passed, it will bring hundreds of millions of dollars to the Alaska economy and encourage Alaska seniors to stay in state, as their benefits will somewhat offset higher costs of living. But the entire program is unfunded and adds to the $36 trillion national debt.
The bill is especially relevant for Alaska retirees who were part of the state’s old Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) and Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS).
Many of these retirees have seen their Social Security benefits significantly reduced due to current structure of Social Security. Under the WEP, individuals who worked in both Social Security-covered and non-covered employment often receive less than their full Social Security benefits. Similarly, the GPO affects survivors’ benefits, reducing spousal or widow’s benefits for retirees with a government pension.
Due to such a large state government workforce, Alaska has the highest percentage of WEP-affected beneficiaries of any state. Nearly 12% of all beneficiaries and 15% of all retired workers are impacted by the WEP.
If passed, the Social Security Fairness Act would eliminate these reductions, allowing public servants to collect both their earned pensions and full Social Security benefits.
Lawmakers supporting the bill say the existing provisions as punitive and outdated, penalizing workers who have contributed significantly to their communities.
If the Senate approves the bill, it will head to President Joe Biden for his signature.
What about those of us who paid into this and had our paychecks reduced? Why should those who did not contribute get benefits and further the debt. More and more are siphoning off this system who never contributed one dime to it!
To be affected by the “Windfall” deduction you have to have paid into social security enough to qualify. Those effected often worked a significant number of years in non-governmental jobs. It is infuriating to me that my husband (and myself through spousal benefits) can not collect what we were forced to pay into the so called “security” system.
That being said, I personally believe SS should be eliminated all together. It’s just a glorified reshuffle of wealth. And we sure don’t need to go it more debt!!
If they never paid into SS they still won’t get a benefit. This bill just removes the reduction on SS benefits from the jobs in which they did pay into SS.
Just a bit of a reminder. Anchorage teachers are impacted the most because in the 1980s when it was possible to opt out of Social Security the National Education Association (NEA) sold this to their members as the best thing for them. They chose this and it was stupid then and now four decades proved it. I was President of ACE/AFT at the time and we stayed in Social Security. So what happens to the alternative retirement they created and chose to pay into that was not SS. Bad decisions by NEA they what all of us to pay for now. Are they going to pay their part or is this another free ride for not taking responsibility for their Union’s and their own decisions?
When the charade eventually concludes it is the property owners stuck with the bills. And more often than not, property owners with no pensions. If Marxist Mary and the wicked witch support it__ you understand
Would the change be retroactive on WEP? In other words would the WEP reduction be eliminated if already receiving social security payments?
Social Security is going broke why don’t they do something real and protect it?
We paid into it. It’s not entitlement.
If they don’t do something and we get a portion of our Social Security instead of the whole thing, it’s gonna be held to pay. Politicians better run, and hide because the general public is not gonna take it too late forced to have money taken out for Social Security and then told you can’t have it ain’t gonna work