Social Security reform gains traction as Louisiana congressional delegates make big push
BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — A bill aimed at social security reform is gaining traction in Congress. Members of Louisiana’s delegation are at the forefront of working to get it passed.
Public workers who may pay into a pension rather than Social Security for their whole careers experience a hit to their monthly payments when they retire through two programs called the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision.
The GPO reduction is explained as “If you receive a retirement or disability pension from a federal, state, or local government based on your own work for which you didn’t pay Social Security taxes, your Social Security benefits may be reduced.”
The WEP reasoning is listed as “The following provisions can affect you if both are true: • You earn a retirement or disability pension from an employer who didn’t withhold Social Security taxes. • You may be eligible for Social Security retirement or disability benefits from work in other jobs for which you did pay taxes.”
The Social Security Fairness Act would do away with both those reductions to retiree’s payments.
The programs were originally implemented as a way to avoid greatly overpaying people. But now lawmakers feel it goes too far and penalizes workers like teachers and first responders.
US Rep. Garret Graves makes last push to reform Social Security, help people get more money
“There should be a little bit of a ding, an appropriate ding on how much you get if half your work life you didn’t pay in the social. But the ding they’re getting the penalty they’re getting is far in excess of what they should,” said U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy.
The bill was recently discharged from a House committee with over 200 members signing on to put it to a vote on the floor. The effort is being led by U.S. Rep. Garret Graves as his last major legislative push before his tenure in the House comes to a close.
Over in the Senate, a companion bill is getting support. Lawmakers have to mull over the estimated nearly $200-billion price tag that some fear will inch Social Security even closer to insolvency. Cassidy, who is working on larger reforms, supports the bill.
“I think the bill has a greater chance of passing if the House sponsors are able to find a pay for it, so to speak. If there is a way to offset the spending, that’s unfair to the workers,” Cassidy said.
While he strives for an overhaul to prevent Social Security from going under by the estimated 2035, Cassidy agrees that these provisions are not fair for the 2.8 million people nationwide who deal with it – with Louisiana having a large population of retirees impacted.
“It’s sometimes easier to fix a small problem if you fix the bigger problem. At the same time, we fix the bigger problem, we make sure that Social Security benefits are there as promised for those who have been promised these benefits,” Cassidy said.
The bill is not expected to get a vote in either chamber until after the election.
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