House Ways and Means Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) introduced legislation to address the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), which impacts federal CSRS retirees who receive a Federal pension in addition to social security, which they earned in work outside the USPS. WEP impacts over 2 million retirees, including many UPMA members.

Summary: H.R.82 — 118th Congress

This bill repeals provisions that reduce Social Security benefits for individuals who receive other benefits, such as a pension from a state or local government.

The bill eliminates the government pension offset, which in various instances reduces Social Security benefits for spouses, widows, and widowers who also receive government pensions of their own.

The bill also eliminates the windfall elimination provision, which in some instances reduces Social Security benefits for individuals who also receive a pension or disability benefit from an employer that did not withhold Social Security taxes.

OK Friends, we are back on GPO and WEP. The old H.R. 82 died on 12/31/2022. I was amazed to discover that it has been reintroduced with the SAME H.R. 82 bill number. This should make an easy association with the 305 House members that co-sponsored H.R. 82 last year.

In Alabama we had 3 Co-Sponsors: Barry Moore, Jerry Carl and Mike Rogers. Please help me contact them and ask them to immediately Co-Sponsor again this year. Here are the phone numbers for you to call and request their support! Below are sample letters or talking points for each contact. Calling is the quickest! Of course, you can simply say "Thank you for Co-Sponsoring H.R. 82 last year, the Social Security Fairness bill has been reintroduced, it's H.R. 82 again! Please immediately Co-Sponsor H.R. 82 again.”

Our issue is going to be educating them that "we or our spouses paid Social Security in at the same rate everyone else did at the time we earned the SS quarters to qualify. So, this is not some NEW spending that requires being budget neutral. Our money is in that SS Trust Fund, it has just never been paid out to us because we have CSRS attached to our pension". Let's get the current Co-Sponsors on board and we will start that education with the entire House and Senate! We also need to EDUCATE and get our remaining AL House members on board!

Feel free to share this with anyone you know. If you are a friend in another state, change my AL information to your state or contact me for information on how to get your information.

Debra Alums
(334)685-2068