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PUT THE GPO AND WEP PRESSURE
ON CONGRESS!
NARFE has worked tirelessly for
over 26 years to repeal or reform the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and
approximately 21 years to repeal or mitigate the Windfall Elimination Provision
(WEP). Efforts to resolve these two offsets have been like a roller coaster
ride, with highs and lows, peaks and valleys.
We were successful in achieving
minor accommodations in both provisions in the 1980’s, but unfortunately we
have not been able to bring acceptable closure to either of these offsets. After years of working for reform or repeal
of these onerous Social Security provisions, everyone is frustrated at not
seeing tangible results. Actually, major progress has been made year by year,
but the bottom line is…no bill of change has been passed.
NARFE members often ask, “Why
didn’t NARFE do something about these offsets when they were first introduced?”
NARFE did! The association contacted its
members, wrote articles, and lobbied Congress about both of these offsets before,
during, and after passage of the comprehensive bills, which contained the
original changes. Unfortunately, Congress, “in its wisdom,” delayed the
implementation of both bills for five years. Thus, at the time of the enacting
measures, there was no affected constituency to provide essential grass roots
opposition to the benefit cuts. Few NARFE members at the time were affected, as
they had already retired, and active federal workers were not contemplating the
losses they would incur five or more years in the future.
With little opposition from
constituents, few members of Congress had concerns with political fall-out from
the provisions. It was not until the mid-1980’s, when
annuitants began to feel the loss of anticipated Social Security benefits, that
calls for modification and repeal began to be heard. Today, with hundreds or
thousands of former public servants losing hundreds of dollars a month in
Social Security benefits, the political pressure for change is accelerating.
Even today, persons who have not
read their retirement materials carefully, pay no attention to the offset
warnings until they actually apply for Social Security and find they are going
to lose some or all of that Social Security benefit. Now might be a good time
to review just how and why the House and Senate allowed these major Social
Security cuts to become law.
Begin with the chronology on the original bill, which
included the GPO. Representative Al Ullman (D-OR),
then Chairman of the
The Committee on Ways and Means referred this bill to the
House on October 12, 1977 and the next day, it was referred to the Committee on
Post Office and Civil Service, which reported it to the House on October
17th. An amended version of the bill
passed the House ten days later, on October 27, and was placed on the Senate
calendar on the following day. An amended version passed in the Senate on
November 4,and was quickly scheduled for
conference. Agreement was reached and
conference reports were filed in the Senate and the House by mid-December.
Following an adopting vote of 189-163 in the House, 56-21 in the Senate, the
measure was sent to the White House where President Jimmy Carter signed it into
P. L. 95-216 on December 20, 1977. In sixty-nine (69) days the Government Pension Offset went from
introduction to being the law of the land.
Now, review the chronology on another omnibus bill that
brought about the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). On March 3, 1983,
approximately five and one-half years after P.L. 95-216 created the GPO, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan
Rostenkowski (D-IL) introduced H.R.1900, known as the “Social Security Act
Amendments of 1983.” This bill was “to assure the solvency of the Social
Security Trust Funds, to reform the medicare
reimbursement of hospitals, to extend the Federal supplemental compensation
program, and for other purposes.” We know that “other purposes” included;
in Title I - Part B, the creation of the WEP and in Title II - Part C, the
reduction of the GPO from a dollar-for-dollar offset to a two-thirds offset.
This bill was reported to the House on March 9, 1983, and the
same day an amended version was adopted.
On March 23, a further amended version passed the Senate, and the next
day, a conference committee reached agreement and filed their report, which was
handily adopted by both the House and Senate. The House vote was 243-102
(Republicans voted 80-48 and Democrats voted 163-54), and the Senate voted
58-14 (Republicans voted 32-8 and Democrats voted 26-6), in favor of the
conference report. President Reagan signed the amendments into P.L. 98-21 on
April 20, 1983. It took only forty-seven (47) days for major changes in the
Social Security Act, including the Windfall Elimination Provision, to go from
the House hopper to the federal statute book.
Obviously, both of these comprehensive Social Security bills
were introduced on a fast track for passage, and it is just as obvious that
there was bipartisan support for passing the bills, which included the GPO, and
the WEP offsets. In addition, they were signed into law under two different
Presidents, Democrat Jimmy Carter, and Republican Ronald Reagan. Clearly,
neither major political party can be tagged to shoulder the blame for today’s
existence of the GPO and the WEP.
It is time for members of both major parties to address the
unfairness of these two offsets and get them to the floor of the House and Senate
for a vote. Several years ago, when the
nation was enjoying a brief surplus, members of Congress said they needed to
wait for full Social Security reform to include repeal or reform of these
offsets. Now the story is that the Social Security Trust Fund cannot withstand
the $69 billion price tag for repeal of these offsets. But looking back at the
history of how these provisions came about in the first place, perhaps it is
time to put these issues back on the fast track, which delivered them in the first
place. It is time to “put the GPO and WEP pressure on Congress.”
The annual August/Labor Day recess is near. Your Senators and
Representatives soon will be home in their districts for most of this month. Some
may take a family vacation and go away for a few days, some will just try to
relax at home, but none should be able to say they spent time without hearing
from or meeting with NARFE members regarding the Government Pension Offset
(GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). If members of your own
delegation are already signed on H.R. 594 or S. 349 as cosponsors, thank them
first, then encourage them to ask their colleagues to
cosponsor and support the “offset repeal” legislation. And seek out their help
in persuading their respective House and Senate leaders to bring the bills up
for a vote.
NARFE generated significant support in the 107th
Congress for the repeal of the GPO and the WEP, ending that Congress with 186
cosponsors on the GPO/WEP repeal bill.
In the 108th Congress, six months after the introduction of
H.R. 594, California Representatives Buck McKeon (R) and Howard Berman (D),
have amassed 237 cosponsors. In the Senate, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
ended the 107th with 14 cosponsors on her companion GPO/WEP repeal
bill, but has been able to garner 20 cosponsors on S. 349, in the first six
months of the 108th Congress. The numbers are higher than ever, and
that is a tribute to NARFE members. There are five states with both of their Senators
cosponsoring S.349, and eight states with all of their Representatives
cosponsoring H.R. 594 in the House.
Remind them of the fast track which brought these punitive
offsets into being, and put on the pressure to fast track a resolution for
repeal. Put the GPO and WEP pressure on Congress---in their backyards!
Reesa Motley-McMurtry
Legislative Representative
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