Congress will soon consider the repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO), which would unfairly increase benefits for individuals with earnings that weren’t subject to Social Security taxation and end up costing taxpayers an additional $196 billion over ten years.
Reps. Garret Graves (R‑LA) and Abigail Spanberger (D‑VA) have secured enough support to file a discharge petition in the House of Representatives. This forces the bill onto the House floor for a vote this fall, bypassing House leadership’s agenda-setting power. This is rubbing many GOP leaders the wrong way, with some calling for changes to discharge petition rules to avoid similar clashes between House members and leadership in the future.
This change is further controversial in that repealing WEP and GPO would unfairly benefit public sector workers at a high cost to taxpayers. Instead, Congress should change the WEP formula to enhance fairness and accuracy in Social Security benefits without increasing taxpayer costs, and reform Social Security spousal benefits to better reflect the realities of 21st century families.
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