House Urges Senate to Act Swiftly on WEP and GPO Repeal Before Jan. 3 Deadline
Reps. Garret Graves and Abigail Spanberger have urged Senate leadership to vote on a bill that aims to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). The House has already passed the legislation, which now heads to the Senate with a companion bill boasting 62 cosponsors.
The WEP and GPO reduce Social Security benefits for federal retirees who also worked in the private sector, affecting approximately 2.1 million and 750,000 individuals respectively as of December 2023. The House-passed bill, supported by various organizations including the National Fraternal Order of Police, seeks to eliminate these provisions. Supporters are considering attaching the legislation to the annual National Defense Authorization Act or a continuing resolution to fund the government past the current Dec. 20 deadline.
The Senate needs to act swiftly, with a Jan. 3, 2024 deadline to pass the measure before the current Congress ends. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the repeal would cost about $196 billion in additional Social Security benefit outlays over the next decade. The House rejected alternative legislation from Rep. Jodey C. Arrington that proposed a new funding formula for the WEP instead of elimination.
With the House's passage of the WEP and GPO repeal bill, the focus now shifts to the Senate. Time is of the essence, as the current Congress ends on Jan. 3, 2024. If passed, the legislation would significantly impact the Social Security benefits of millions of federal retirees and their families.
Read also:
- United States tariffs pose a threat to India, necessitating the recruitment of adept negotiators or strategists, similar to those who had influenced Trump's decisions.
- Weekly happenings in the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag)
- Southwest region's most popular posts, accompanied by an inquiry:
- Discussion between Putin and Trump in Alaska could potentially overshadow Ukraine's concerns
