This Act would repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO)! The WEP and GPO reduce Social Security retirement benefits, affecting approximately 2.8 million people, typically firefighters, police officers and teachers. It also affects people that worked outside of the United States for some of their working years.
It’s due to come up for a House vote very soon! The Senate has a companion bill to the Act but it has not progressed. Let’s make sure that both are brought to the table and pass both chambers!
Some other things I’d like to see with SS is an end to taxing the benefits, and a removal of the regressive income cap for paying the tax (so long as there is a SS tax)
Please do this! I paid into social security until I was 43 years old. Now they take 75% of my check because I worked for 20 years under teacher’s retirement. It’s just not right to take the money I earned. Now I’m left with a small check from teachers retirement and a miniscule check from social security.
Yes please! I came to teaching later in life (42).
I put money into
Social security previous to my teaching career.
There are many in similar situations.
Both my husband and I are affected by the WEP. He was a firefighter and I paid into a Teacher Retirement for 5 years. So here we are, in our 70’s, raising a young grandson on our retirement and we are denied what we rightfully worked for. His $617/month & my $128/month that we are being denied would help us tremendously. Politicians have used the WEP as a political talking point to get our votes & then did nothing. REPEAL THE WEP, NOW!
Most pensioners (police, fire, teachers) who paid 10 years into SS receive only 1/3 of the total earned SS benefit. Government withholding up to 2/3 is cruel & unusual punishment in light of the benefits given to undocumented immigrants. The 1/3 rarely covers the Medicare premiums leaving little for bills & necessities. Make retiring great again!
My husband worked a regular job from high school until he was in his mid-twenties. He became a police officer with a city that did almost nothing for their retirement or insurance between retirement and Social Security eligible. Now he is working for our local school system as a bus driver so that we have insurance. And when he gets Medicare, I will be without because I am younger. In rural America here, our best employment is with our school system. His SS is cut 40%. Meanwhile, after working from 21 to about 55, my best option was as a substitute. I called SS office to make sure my SS would not be affected - I am not full-time, but am forced to pay retirement. The agent could not definitively answer. I pray that my SS is not cut - that I worked enough years at a high level admin job in Chicago that I made it over the threshold because the company and university contributions didn’t do much for those they considered of lower importance. Yes. I contributed to a retirement. That had its own problems, and my husband has major health issues, not uncommon for retired officers.