Five hundred Connecticut teachers submitted written testimony to Congress last week to urge the Ways and Means Committee to advance legislation to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). Teachers and other public servants are unfairly penalized by these federal provisions that reduce or eliminate their earned Social Security benefits.
WEP/GPO reduces the amount educators who have paid into social security are eligible to receive when they retire—and also significantly lowers or eliminates the spousal benefit retired teachers are able to collect through their partners.
Thank you to everyone who submitted testimony on HR 82,—your advocacy is pushing this legislation forward, and the bi-partisan co-authors of this legislation are asking for more help.
We are encouraging members of the Ways and Means Committee to push for a mark-up session, in which members of the committee would review and make any necessary changes to the legislation. To support this effort, CEA has compiled a contact list of the members of the Ways and Means Committee and has drafted a sample letter/talking points for your use in helping to push for this very important next step in the legislative process.
Please consider contacting your congressional representative—in Connecticut, you can reach out to our very own Social Security Champion, John Larson—or send this list and sample talking points to your friends in other states so they can contact their representatives. Together we can make this repeal happen.
