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Senator from Alaska urges repeal of GPO and WEP, praises vote to advance Social Security Fairness Act
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Summary
A senator from Alaska described how the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) cut earned benefits for many public servants, recounted personal hardship cases, and said she voted to move the Social Security Fairness Act toward final passage, with 72 senators supporting the motion; final passage is not recorded here.
A senator from Alaska urged Congress to eliminate two Social Security rules that she said reduce retirement benefits for teachers, firefighters, police and other public servants.
"GPO and WEP, government pension offset and windfall elimination provision," the senator said, identifying the two policies by name and saying they have had "devastating consequences" for many Americans. She told the Senate these cuts began with the GPO in 1977 and expanded with the WEP in 1983.
The senator framed her remarks around concrete hardship. She said about 15,156 Alaskans are affected by GPO or WEP and recounted stories including a retired teacher who she said lost roughly two-thirds of her Social Security because of WEP and a young Alaska widow placed in dire financial straits after her husband’s death.
"I've been hearing from these folks for the entire tenure that I've been here in the United States Senate," the senator said, adding that she has cosponsored legislation to eliminate GPO and WEP in every Congress during her service.
On recent floor action, the senator said she "cast my vote yesterday to move to passage of the Social Security Fairness Act" and that 72 senators joined that effort to advance the bill. She characterized the vote as a significant step but did not state a final passage outcome in this transcript.
She argued removing the offsets would help Alaska and similar states recruit and retain teachers, principals, firefighters and emergency responders by removing a retirement disincentive. "You're going to have a better chance ... it’s going to be a little bit easier for you to recruit and retain good teachers and principals," she said.
The senator also noted the broader scale of the issue, saying more than 800,000 Americans were affected by GPO and over 2,000,000 were affected by WEP in other states, and called for broader work on Social Security solvency in the next Congress.
The senator concluded by saying she was proud of recent floor action and yielded the floor.
Votes at a glance
• Motion: Move to passage of the Social Security Fairness Act — described by the senator as supported by 72 senators when the motion was advanced. Final passage or full roll-call tally is not recorded in this transcript.
Sources: Floor remarks by a senator from Alaska (transcript).
