Talking Points

The Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) penalize people who have dedicated their lives to public service by taking away benefits they have EARNED.

• Nine out of 10 public employees affected by the GPO lose their entire spousal benefit, even though their spouse paid Social Security taxes for many years.
  
  
• The WEP causes hard-working people to lose a significant portion of the benefits they earned themselves.

This is an education issue -- the GPO and WEP impact student learning by discouraging talented people from entering or staying in the education profession.

• Individuals who worked in other careers are less likely to want to become educators if doing so will mean a loss of earned Social Security benefits. The GPO and WEP are also causing current educators to leave the profession, and students to choose courses of study other than education.
  
  
• Non-Social Security states  are finding it increasingly difficult to attract quality educators as more folks learn about the GPO and WEP.
  
  
• The GPO and WEP will particularly hinder efforts to recruit new math and science teachers from the private sector.

This is a national problem.

• Because people move from state to state, there are affected individuals everywhere.
  
  
• The number of people impacted continues to grow as more people reach retirement age.

The loss of income forces some people into poverty.

• Some 300,000 individuals lose an average of $3,600 a year due to the GPO -- an amount that can make the difference between self-sufficiency and poverty.
  
  
• Impacted people have less money to spend in their local economy.

The GPO and WEP hurt many public employees, including educators, police officers, and firefighters.

• We should respect, not penalize, public service employees.

Voters care about this issue.

• Public employees are watching how members of Congress act on issues like this.

Congress must take immediate action.

• Congress should pass the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82/S. 206), which would completely repeal the GPO and WEP.
  
  
• This legislation has overwhelming bipartisan support but has been languishing in committee for years. We cannot afford to wait any longer. The time to act is now!

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