NAPO Supports Reintroduction of Bill to Repeal GPO & WEP{0}
NAPO Supports Reintroduction of Bill to Repeal GPO & WEP
Congressman Rodney Davis (R-IL) reintroduced the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 141), which has already gained 72 bipartisan cosponsors since it was dropped on January 3. This legislation, which would totally repeal both the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), continues to be a top priority for NAPO.
Though most police officers must retire after specific time served, usually in their early- to mid-fifties, many look for new opportunities to serve their community. Yet, when they retire from a non-Social Security paying job and move to one that does pay into Social Security, they are penalized by the WEP. Instead of receiving full support from their rightfully earned Social Security retirement benefit, their pension heavily offsets it, thus vastly reducing the amount they receive.
More troubling is the effect of GPO on a police officer’s retirement. If a spouse who paid into Social Security dies, the surviving public safety officer should be eligible for half of the deceased’s benefit. However, GPO requires that this amount be offset by two-thirds of the survivor’s pension, eliminating most or all of the payment. By professional need, many police officers are outside of Social Security but if they had not served at all, they would receive the full allotment of the spouse’s benefit.
GPO and WEP were meant as a “leveling” response but only serve to hurt public safety officers. By totally repealing both GPO and WEP, the Social Security Fairness Act would preserve the retirement security of those who selflessly serve and protect our communities.
NAPO thanks Congressman Davis for his continued dedication ensuring public employees get the retirement benefits they rightly deserve. We look forward to working with him to pass this important legislation.