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Dear Members,
I am proud to share that the U.S. House of Representatives voted yesterday to pass the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82), marking a monumental win for peace officers and public servants nationwide. If passed by the Senate and signed into law, this historic bill will repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) – two federal provisions that have unfairly reduced retirement benefits for millions of peace officers and their families for over forty years.
PORAC, together with the West Coast Law Enforcement Coalition, has been advocating for the repeal of these unjust provisions for years. As we know all too well, peace officers are often forced to retire earlier than other workers due to the physical and emotional demands of the job. But to support themselves and their families, many then have to take work in the private sector that pays into Social Security. Under GPO and WEP, the benefits they pay into are reduced – sometimes by as much as half. The result is that peace officers and their families are robbed of their hard-earned benefits when they need it most. The Social Security Fairness Act will resolve this inequity once and for all, restoring dignity in retirement for those who have dedicated their careers to serving their communities rather than penalizing them for doing so.
I am deeply grateful to Representatives Garrett Graves and Abigail Spanberger for their leadership, to all the representatives who cosponsored this important legislation and cast a ‘yes’ vote yesterday, and to our West Coast Coalition partners who stood with us in our fight to right this decades-long wrong. I also want to thank our federal lobbying team at Steptoe for their tireless work to advocate on our behalf and push this legislation forward, despite several hurdles along the way. As we await Senate action, I can confidently say that we are closer than ever to achieving a retirement system that treats public servants with the respect we deserve.
I encourage you to share this news with your networks so we can keep this great momentum going, and as always, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
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