In an encouraging development, some employees are thrilled about the prospect of receiving higher Social Security benefits than they already receive. Two measures that limited the amount of benefits for retirees who also receive pension income were struck down by the House of Representatives last week.

Nearly three million Americans, including public school teachers, firefighters, police officers, and postal workers, are impacted by the two provisions that repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO).

Rafael Sanchez, who spent 30 years working for the state of California before relocating to Idaho to work in the private sector and contribute to Social Security for three years, commented on the news that for the past 50 years, billions of dollars have been withheld from public employees who received both Social Security benefits and a public pension.

How the WEP and the GPO affect Social Security benefits

For people who receive so-called non-covered pension income from jobs—usually in the public sector—that did not pay Social Security payroll taxes, the WE generates Social Security. It can cut the pension amount in half. The GPO lowers spousal or survivor benefits.if a person’s Social Security payout is reduced by two-thirds of their pension amount because their pension is not covered. This implies that your payment could be lowered to zero if two-thirds of your government pension exceeds your Social Security payout.

Despite their seeming callousness, these arrangements were made during a period when pensions were robust, and many workers received a living wage after 20 years to last the remainder of their lives. This isn’t the case anymore; workers need every penny they can get in retirement to make ends meet, and pensions are far from what they once were.

Sara Fischer, 65, is a real-life example to provide context. She took an early retirement buyout at the age of 44 after 25 years with the federal courts, intending to work in the private sector and continue to make contributions to Social Security for the remainder of her career in the hopes of receiving a payout based on those contributions. That did not occur as she had hoped. She stated that WEP will deduct almost $600 from her monthly Social Security payout.

I don t expectSocial Securityto pay me any more than what anyone who worked for 11 years would receive based on what I earned and what I paid intoSocial Security.WhatWEPsays to people like me is we don t care how much you paid intoSocial Securityand what you re entitled to, based on what you paid in during the years you contributed toSocial Security.We are going to slash yourSocial Security checkbecause you were a government employee. For a period. That is the only reason. She still works part-time as a paralegal in Detroit, Michigan.

Another affected individualBill Callahan,67, a retired teacher in Middlebury, Connecticut also points out that once your Social Security benefit is cut, you re also losing out on the annualcost-of-living adjustment (COLA)OurCOLAis determined after the deduction for either theGPOorWEP whichmeans we lose out each year. You take this and play it out over 20 years ofCOLA,and it stinks.

Callahan sCOLAfor 2025 will be applied to hisreduced benefitafter the $480WEPdeduction, not the original $839 amount. This means his 2.5% increase will be based on $359, giving him less than $9 more per month.

If theCOLAwere calculated on the full benefit, he d be looking at a $21 monthly increase more than double. To make matters worse,Medicare Part B premiumsare also rising in 2025, jumping $10.30 to $185 from $174.70 in 2024. For Callahan, that increase more than cancels out hisCOLA adjustment.

The bill is now slated to be voted on by theSenatebut only has until Dec. 31 to do so. If the vote is not scheduled or passed, it will die.

Bipartisan nonprofit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget President Maya MacGuineassaid in a statement These provisions aren t perfect, and there are lots of ideas to reform them. But repealing them altogether would move in exactly the wrong direction.

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