Early next week, the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on legislation that would eliminate two Social Security provisions that have denied public servants across the country the ability to collect the entirety of their earned Social Security benefits. The IAFC asks that you contact your Senators using our Legislative Action Center and ask them to pass H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act.
Approximately 2.8 million public servants in the United States that receive pensions or disability benefits, including firefighters, EMS professionals, police officers, educators, and government employees, are ineligible to receive all — or sometimes any — of their earned Social Security benefits due to provisions in the law.
The first provision, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), reduces earned Social Security benefits for those who receive a pension or disability benefit but also have other employment covered by Social Security. For example, a firefighter that has a part-time job at a hardware store has his Social Security benefits earned from the hardware store reduced because he also has a pension from the city.
Second, the Government Pension Offset (GPO), reduces Social Security benefits for spouses and even widows of public servants whose jobs are not covered by Social Security.
The Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82) would eliminate both the WEP and the GPO provision. The bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 327-75 with one “Present” vote.
The Senate must now pass this legislation for it to become law. It will hold critical votes on H.R. 82 early next week. Please use our Legislative Action Center to contact your Senators and ask them to pass the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82), so that we may more fairly compensate our firefighters and EMS professionals, and their families, for their careers of service to our communities.
Contact your Senator
Ken LaSala is the IAFC’s Director of Government Relations & Policy and John Drummond is the IAFC’s legal intern.