1/23/07: Bills have been introduced in both the House and Senate to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) provisions of current law. Both of these provisions unfairly penalize federal employees when they retire.

Under WEP, federal employees and retirees who also paid into social security, find their social security benefits reduced by as much as 55 percent just because they receive a federal pension. Under GPO, employees who receive a pension for government service and who are also eligible to receive spousal social security benefits, face major reductions in their spousal benefits as well.

Bipartisan legislation to repeal these two unfair offsets has been introduced by Representative Howard Berman (H.R. 82) in the House of Representatives, and Senator Dianne Feinstein (S. 206) in the Senate. In the past, NTEU President Colleen Kelley has testified in support of earlier versions of these bills, and she continues to support these measures and will push for a repeal of the offsets. It is likely that additional bills on this subject will be introduced as the new Congress continues.

For more information on this issue and to find out how you can help, you can visit CapWiz.