November 16, 2004

     In a recent edition of the TRTA News Bulletin, Rep. Kevin Brady advocated for his legislation, The Public Servant Retirement Protection Act, which repeals Social Security’s Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP).  While I support the intent of Rep. Brady’s legislation and its attempt to address the inequities of the WEP, the Government Pension Offset (GPO) is a similar Social Security provision just as unfair to Texas’ public servants and equally deserving of congressional action.

 

     Currently, more than 750,000 Americans are subject to the WEP, which reduces the Social Security benefits of workers who also have benefits from non-Social Security covered work.  While the regular Social Security formula provides beneficiaries with 90 percent of their first $612 in monthly benefits, non-covered workers who fall under the WEP receive only 40 percent of their first $612 in monthly benefits.  This provision affects the many Texas teachers and public servants who have worked a second job, forcing them to give up as much as $306 each month from their Social Security benefits. 

 

     That $306 cut in benefits would prove harmful to any family on a fixed income.  But in all honesty, the provision ends up targeting public servants like our firefighters, police officers and teachers.  To make matters worse, the WEP is applied to the first $612 in monthly benefits, making it a regressive provision that disproportionately injures these public servants who have forgone higher-paying jobs in the private sector to serve their fellow citizens and work for the betterment of their communities.  Without a doubt, this provision keeps far too many public servants from collecting the Social Security benefits they have earned.
 
     The same unfairness is at work in the Government Pension Offset (GPO), which should be eliminated along with the WEP.  The GPO reduces an individual’s spousal and widow’s benefit by two-thirds if he or she collects a pension based on employment not covered by Social Security. 

Like the WEP’s 40 percent factor, the GPO’s two-thirds rate is an arbitrary reduction that disproportionately affects lower-income individuals.  Almost 400,000 Social Security beneficiaries have their spousal and widow’s benefits reduced because of the GPO, and more than 10 percent of them reside in our state of Texas.  Three-fourths of all affected beneficiaries are women.

 

     The GPO’s two-thirds reduction rate often has the effect of completely eliminating any benefit that a spouse or widow would receive.  In fact, 75 percent of individuals affected by the GPO lose every penny of their spousal and widow’s benefit because of this provision.  And even those whose benefit is not completely offset by the GPO only receive an average of $91 per month.  Compare this paltry sum with the average pre-GPO monthly benefit of $500, and the numbers prove that the GPO causes just as much of a financial burden on Social Security beneficiaries as the WEP.

 

     In Texas, teachers are leaving the profession in droves, rather than lose their Social Security spousal and widow’s benefit.  To them, the assurance that they will have a full spousal and widow’s benefit during their fixed income years is a necessity.  And caught in the cross hairs are our school children, who miss out on the wisdom and experience of these teachers because of a flawed provision.  We should celebrate our public servants’ dedication to their community by treating them fairly, not taking away their hard-earned benefits.

 

     For that reason, elimination of the WEP and GPO should go hand in hand.  A majority of the Congress agrees and has signed on to legislation to do just that.  The votes are there.  It will just take action by the congressional leadership to do right by our public servants and ensure that they get every penny of the Social Security benefits they have earned.

 

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