Last year, we reported on legislation Congress was considering to reform the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) of Social Security. The bill ultimately stalled despite bipartisan support from over 100 members of Congress, legislative leaders, and stakeholders representing the public employees affected.

In late April, new legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate that would take-up WEP and Government Pension Offset (GPO) reform efforts again. The Social Security Fairness Act of 2017, introduced by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), would repeal both the WEP and the GPO. The bill, S.915, has been assigned to the Senate Finance Committee. Public employees who receive both public pension benefits and Social Security benefits are very familiar with both of these provisions, which, according to Pensions & Investments, affect the Social Security checks of more than two million public employees across the country. The legislation has gained bipartisan support once again, with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV), and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) joining Sens. Brown, Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Claire McCaskill (D-MO). The WEP and GPO provisions affect most public employees in all of the states (aside from Wisconsin) represented by those Senators.

One sticking point with the possible repeal of the WEP and GPO is the affect it would have on the Social Security trust fund. Last year’s H.R. 711 was estimated to be neutral in terms of its impact to the trust, but it did not constitute a full WEP repeal. It remains to be seen if S. 915 would negatively impact the Social Security trusts.

Stay tuned for more information, and potential opportunities to reach out to Colorado Senators Bennet and Gardner regarding this bill.