House passes legislation to end Windfall Elimination Act and Government Pension Offset

WASHINGTON — A major update on 11 Investigates reporting on the millions of Americans who rely on benefits from the Social Security Administration to make ends meet.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Social Security Fairness Act. It eliminates two provisions from the 1980s that kept some people from collecting much of the money they paid into Social Security.

This could make a huge difference for millions of Americans if it also passes the Senate and gets signed into law. The House passing it with overwhelming bipartisan support, 327 to 75 is an important first step.

Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., co-authored the legislation along with Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va.. Rep. Graves says for 40 years, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) have treated people differently and discriminated against some workers.

“These are police officers, these are teachers, these are firefighters and other public servants,” Rep. Graves said on the House floor Tuesday night.

The two provisions reduce Social Security benefits for nearly three million Americans, mostly public servants who received a pension from a job that did not pay Social Security taxes.

“These are firefighters who worked a second job to make ends meet, police officers who began a second career after leaving the force, teachers who took a summer job to cover the bills and pay for school supplies,” Rep. Spanberger added.

The WEP also affects people like Ron Bonasso from Pittsburgh. He’s a retired postal worker that 11 Investigates first introduced you to in January. That’s when he told us about the letter the Social Security Administration sent him that he was overpaid $7,500 because of the Windfall Elimination Provision. The government reduced his monthly checks to get that money back.

“There are a whole bunch of us who have been retired all these years who have gotten screwed by Social Security,” Bonasso said.

He now works two jobs to make ends meet and won’t be able to collect benefits retroactively.

“I worked for all of that,” Bonasso said. “I put all that money in there. I still don’t get it.”

He says while this is a step in the right direction, he believes Congress took way too long to act.

“Congress has had this going on and on and on and never did a damn thing about it,” Bonasso said. “It’s a shame. It’s not fair. You’d think we all work for the government, they’d take care of us. They didn’t.”

During our year-long investigation into billions of dollars in Social Security overpayments to people like Bonasso, we found these two provisions to be a source of confusion for some retirees and Social Security employees. Eliminating the provisions could help with that confusion.

The legislation now goes to the Senate for a vote. If passed, it will head to President Biden’s desk.

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