When the 116^th Congress convened in Washington, D.C., in January, a familiar proposal quickly rose again. The question is whether it has any chance of being signed into law.

The bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act of 2019 (H.R. 141) would amend part of the Social Security Act by repealing the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). H.R. 141 is designed to address two provisions that reduce or eliminate Social Security benefits paid to public service employees (and their spouses) who spend the majority of their careers working for employers that do not participate in Social Security.

The WEP can reduce earned Social Security benefits for people who also receive a public pension through a job that’s not covered by Social Security, as is the case for most Colorado PERA-members. The GPO covers public employees who are eligible to receive spousal benefits and also worked in non-Social Security covered positions. Currently, the amount of each reduction is determined by formulas that include years of service in the private and public sectors and monthly retirement benefit amounts. The WEP and GPO do not affect the amount of a PERA benefit.

Federal legislation to reform the GPO and WEP has been introduced on a frequent basis: One previously introduced WEP/GPO bill called for using a Social Security benefit formula based on a person’s entire working career, but instead, H.R. 141 is similar to a proposal introduced in 2017 that called for a repeal of the WEP and GPO entirely.

Previous bills that have been proposed in the past have not progressed very far through the ratification process. Public employees say it’s unfair that they’re financially penalized for their career choices, but opponents argue that repealing these provisions would over-correct the system too far in the opposite direction, making it unfair to those who never worked in the public sector. Still otherspoint to the cost involved in repealing the WEP and GPO and the negative impact increased Social Security payments would have on the already stressed Social Security trust fund.

These still-unresolved arguments make the passage of this latest bill unlikely, despite its bipartisan support. The only Colorado member of Congress who has signed on to support this version so far is Rep. Scott Tipton (R-CO 3). PERA members and retirees who would like to see H.R. 141 passed—or at least debated or amended further—should contact their member of Congress and encourage them to support this legislation. The complete list of cosponsors is here. The U.S. House of Representatives’ website has a tool that matches ZIP codes and U.S. Congressional Representatives.

For moreinformation about how the GPO and WEP are calculated, the PERA website has this fact sheet, as well as a helpful video on YouTube.

Other useful resources:

WEP calculator

GPO calculator