Public
Employees Affected by the GPO and WEP Have been Penalized With Benefit Loss. Please
Review The Talking Points Below and Contact Your Representatives Immediately to
Request Their Support As a Co-sponsor for These Bills! Nearly
all American workers contribute to and are covered by Social Security. In addition
they often contribute to private pension programs and are eligible to receive
both Social Security and private pension benefits. However,
some public employees such as teacher, police, etc were not covered by Social
Security but instead earned public employee pensions. However, roughly 800,000
Americans contributed to both Social Security and public employee pension programs
over the course of their working lives. However,
due to the current Social Security law, many retired public employees who contribute
to both Social Security and public employee pension programs in several states
are not able to receive their full retirement benefits. Government
Pension Offset (GPO) unfairly reduces the Social Security "spousal benefits" of
retired public employees who receive pension benefits from public employee pension
programs as well as receive the Social Security spousal benefits. Retired public
employees eligible for the Social Security spousal benefits have an amount equal
to two-thirds of their pension benefits deducted from any Social Security survivor
benefits. However, non-public employees with private pensions eligible for the
Social Security spousal benefits get to keep their entire pension and receive
their full Social Security survivor benefits. The
Windfall Elimination Provisions (WEP), on the other hand, unfairly reduces the
Social Security "earned benefits" of public retirees who receive pension benefits
not covered by Social Security and who are also eligible for the Social Security
earned benefits from other employment. Social Security earned benefit reductions
can reach one-half of the amount of their public retirement benefit. The
GPO and WEP thus severely and unfairly limit the retirement benefits of public
employees. Virtually
all states have residents who are affected by either the GPO or WEP, however the
largest amount of people affected are in about twelve states: California, Ohio,
Texas, Illinois, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Colorado, New York, Georgia,
Missouri and Virginia. According
to the Congressional Budget Office there are approximately 500,000 retirees subject
to WEP with an additional 60,000 each year. There are approximately 305,000 retirees
subject to the GPO with an additional 15,000 each year. Three quarters of retirees
who are subject to GPO lose all of their Social Security benefits, making the
average loss due to GPO at $353.00 per month. The
repeal of GPO would have returned $1.1 billion to the beneficiaries in 2001. According
to the Social Security Administrator, JoAnne Barnhart, the Social Security Trust
Fund has $1.21 Trillion. In 2001 46 million beneficiaries of Social Security received
$432 billion and the Trust Fund increased by $602 billion. It would seem as though
$1.1 billion being returned to the beneficiaries should not impact the Trust Fund,
when it increased in 2001 by $602 billion. Action
Plan --- H.R. 2638 was filed by Howard "Buck" McKeon of California on July
25, 2001. The bill has 126 co-sponsors. H.R. 2638 was referred to the Subcommittee
on Social Security on July 31, and has not been scheduled for a hearing. S.
1523 by Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California was filed October 10, 2001, and referred
to the Senate Committee on Finance. It has not been scheduled for a hearing. Please
contact your elected officials and ask them to support H.R. 2638 and S. 1523 immediately!
If you would like to receive more information on the Windfall/Offset Bills, click
here. For post-card templates to send to legislators please contact: Lisa
Tharp, Legislative Director
Ohio State Grange
1031 East Broad Street
Columbus, Ohio 43205
Phone: 614-258-9569
Fax: 614-258-3232 Thank
you for your grassroots participation in the National Grange Legislative program.
| 
