GPO, WEP Bills Get Another Airing

Opponents of two provisions primarily affecting Civil Service Retirement System retirees-the “government pension offset” and the “windfall elimination provision”-have gotten a hearing before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. As in a House hearing earlier this year, individuals and organizations testified that the provisions unfairly reduce Social Security benefits for those drawing benefits from a system, such as CSRS and certain state and local retirement programs, that do not include Social Security as a basic part of the benefit. The hearing was the first formal Senate attention to the issue in recent years and has raised hopes that action might be taken during this session of Congress on bills to ease (HR-75 and S-363) or eliminate (HR-594 and S-349) the reductions. However, the sticking point remains the congressional tax-writing committees-Ways and Means on the House side and Finance on the Senate side-which are wary of the cost. Eliminating both provisions would cost $62 billion over 10 years, the Social Security Administration estimates. Also, SSA reiterated its opposition, citing those costs and considerations of equity with private sector beneficiaries, who in some situations are subject to a greater offset than the GPO requires.