Retirement & Financial Planning Report

Both provisions have been a sore point since they were enacted four decades ago for the federal CSRS population. Image: Freda barksdale/Shutterstock.com

Sponsors of a bill (HR-82) to repeal the windfall elimination provision and the government pension offset—two reductions in Social Security benefits applying to those drawing annuities from a system that does not include Social Security, such as the federal CSRS—hope to force a vote on that bill soon.

The WEP reduces a Social Security benefit the person earned through other employment—typically before or after a federal career but in some cases during a career through work on the side—if the person had less than 30 years of earnings above a designated level. That figure rises each year—$27,300 for 2022. The maximum reduction works out to about $500 a month and is not as severe for those with between 20 and 30 years of such earnings.

The GPO reduces Social Security spousal or survivor benefits by $2 for each $3 the beneficiary receives in an annuity from a retirement system that does not include Social Security. In many cases, the effect of the GPO is to eliminate a spousal or survivor Social Security benefit through a spouse’s Social Security-covered employment.

Both provisions have been a sore point since they were enacted four decades ago for the federal CSRS population, who now account for only several percent of active employees but who make up about six-tenths of current retirees. (Neither applies to those under FERS because that system includes Social Security.) Numerous proposals to soften or end them have been introduced over the years but never have reached enactment; the current bill has been pending in the House Ways and Means Committee since it was introduced early last year.

The bill recently achieved 290 sponsors, though, a significant number House rules since under House rules sponsors can force a vote as long as it stays above that level for 25 days that the House is in session. That could come as soon as late this month, although a recent procedural ruling involving another House bill still could prevent that from happening.

Should the House take up and pass the bill, it still would have to clear the Senate, where a counterpart bill (S-1302) has only 40 sponsors and has been pending in the counterpart Finance Committee since it was introduced last year. However, even a vote only by the House could create momentum for the future for the long-standing proposal.

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