LOUISIANA — A bill that would repeal a pair of programs (WEP & GPO) that negatively affects social security benefits for government employees in Louisiana and other states, along with their spouses, made historic strides by passing the U.S. House of Representatives. The vote passed 327 to 75.
“Even politicians should feel guilty about 40 years of stealing retirement benefits from police officers, teachers, firefighters and other public servants,” U.S. Rep. Garret Graves told UWK. “For the first time ever, we gave Congress a chance to make things right and support our bill. This was a hard-fought battle for the most popular bill in Congress. Our bill is equally popular in the Senate and should enjoy the same success. I’m proud of this bill and proud to stand up for the people of Louisiana.”
Leading up to the historic vote, Congressman Graves spoke loud and clear, having fought in honor of the men and women simply asking for what they worked for.
“I worked side-by-side with these people. They’re not people that are overpaid. They are not people that are underworked. Police officers, think about the crime issue, the defund police issue, the safety of our communities,” said a passionate and fed-up Graves. “They are integral to our state. They are integral to our nation. We need to treat them fairly, respectfully and that means by not treating them differently, discriminating against them in their benefits. Teachers, they’re the ones that train the next generation. Firefighters, who are you going to call when your house is on fire? And these are the very people whose benefits we are cutting.”
Next steps for the bill
What will happen next for the bill? Graves said it will go to the desk of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who essentially holds all the cards.
“He is the one who controls the schedule, controls the calendar in the United States Senate. This is really his call, whether or not this bill will be brought before the United States Senate,” Graves explained.
Considering the bipartisan support for the bill, especially in such a deeply divided Congress, Graves said that the bill should be garnering interest from senators on both sides of the aisle.
“You’ve got to take full advantage of that support and momentum and parlay it into action in the U.S. Senate. We need to put pressure on the Senate to make this a priority to put it on the agenda and to have a vote in the U.S. Senate,” Graves said.
Graves said the window to get the bill voted on in the Senate runs out on Dec. 20, when government funding for the 2024 fiscal year runs out so there isn’t much time left.
“The reason is because in January, everything resets. It would be like the House never even passed the bill,” Graves said. “You have to start all over again.”
Graves will also not be in Congress come January 2nd. After not seeking reelection, Graves’ 6th Congressional seat was won by Democrat Cleo Fields in November’s election so Graves said these next five weeks or so are absolutely critical for the bill’s future.
If it were to pass in the Senate with cloture, the bill would need a 2/3rds majority which means 60% of senators will need to vote in favor of the legislation. Graves said he believes that there are over 60 senators in the current Senate who he believes will support it but he said right now, the bill needs an advocate to step up.
“It’s really going to take somebody who’s really going to grab the bull by the horns and put all their weight behind this over in the Senate. That’s the key thing. That’s what’s next,” Graves said.
When asked who those potential advocates might be, Graves pointed to Maine Sen. Susan Collins or Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown.
Background on the Bill
The legislation had 325 total co-sponsors across the House and Senate, making it the second most co-sponsored bill in Congress. House GOP leadership took the bill to a vote on the House Floor on November 12, 2024 after a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Graves and U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (VA), got 218 signatures on a discharge petition.
Discharge petitions are rare. This will mark only the second time in the current congressional session that a discharge petition met the threshold for signatures. That’s a big deal, Graves said.
“In 40-plus years of folks pushing this, it’s never even been brought to a vote before. The fact that we’re here now, the most co-sponsored bill, forcing it for a vote, is the absolute high water mark. It’s remarkable and we have a ton of momentum behind this,” Graves said, but noted that the legislation is far from guaranteed to pass.
Graves has been fighting to have the provisions eliminated for the past decade.
The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) affects individuals who receive a pension from a government job, such as teachers, first responders, and state or parish employees in Louisiana. Suppose these employees also worked jobs outside the government, like at a grocery store, and contributed to Social Security. In that case, they will receive only a portion of their Social Security benefits when it comes time to collect. Additionally, their spouses are also penalized by this reduction. In contrast, other workers who never held a government job and only contributed to Social Security would receive 100% of their Social Security benefits. It’s almost like employees who worked government jobs are penalized and not receiving 100% of what they contributed to Social Security. Similarly, the Government Pension Offset (GPO) reduces the spousal benefits for most individuals who receive pensions from government employment that Social Security did not cover.
While eliminating the WEP would increase monthly Social Security benefits for around 3% of Social Security beneficiaries, critics of the bill say scoring from the Congressional Budget Office, shows the Social Security Fairness Act could cost more than $190 billion over a decade.
Some Conservative members of Congress also oppose the bill. Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (Texas) said the measure was a bad direction to go and said he would oppose the legislation in a recent interview with The Hill.
Regardless of the long-term cost, Graves said he believes as much as $700 billion was taken from these social security beneficiaries over a 40-year period, so the money is ultimately theirs.
“What this has done is its artificially propped up the Social Security Trust fund. That trust fund is predicted to be insolvent somewhere in the 2034-2035 time frame. If they hadn’t stolen all this money from these people, it would be becoming insolvent probably two to three years earlier,” Graves said.
The WEP currently impacts approximately 2 million Social Security beneficiaries, and the GPO impacts nearly 800,000 retirees.
To learn more about your own social security benefits, you can visit here.
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