Tell your U.S. Senators and Representative: Stop penalizing public service!

Our Association wants to repeal two anti-public employee Social Security provisions: Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP).

It is time to push Congress to move this important legislation to a vote. Senators Feinstein (D-California) and Collins (R-Maine) have reintroduced the Senate version of the Social Security Fairness Act, which would repeal both GPO and WEP. The Senate bill number is S. 484. It is identical to H.R. 235, introduced in the House of Representatives this January. The Senate bill has 11 bipartisan cosponsors; the House bill has 181 bipartisan cosponsors.

The bills will completely repeal GPO and WEP, two harmful amendments to the Social Security Act. These two provisions unjustifiably reduce or eliminate Social Security benefits for public employees in states like ours where public employees are covered by a pension plan (PERA and Denver PSRS), but do not pay into Social Security.

These provisions are not easy to explain or understand. GPO and WEP reduce or eliminate benefits that public employees or their spouses have earned and are expecting in retirement. They impact anyone who works in a public sector job and does not pay into Social Security for that job, but anticipates the Social Security benefits from another job they or their spouse held.

GPO reduces public employees' Social Security spousal or survivor benefits by two-thirds of their public pension. WEP reduces the earned Social Security benefits of an individual who also receives a public pension from a job not covered by Social Security.

These provisions are anti-public employee and we must get them repealed. You can help today by sending an email to Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet and your U.S. Representative at NEA's Legislative Action Center. The only members of Colorado's Congressional Delegation who are cosponsors of the current legislation to repeal GPO and WEP are Reps. Diana DeGette (CD 1), Jared Polis (CD 2), and John Salazar (CD 3).

Updated June 2, 2009