Repeal of the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Penalty in the Social Security

WHEREAS, Congress created the Windfall Elimination Provision to remove an unintended "windfall" that the regular Social Security benefit formula created with the goal to make sure that people who were eligible for a government pension weren't overly compensated with Social Security benefits; and 

WHEREAS, The Government Pension Offset makes sure that a spouse or surviving spouse who receives a government pension and is also eligible for a Social Security spousal benefit doesn't receive extra compensation as compared to other spouses or surviving spouses without a government pension; and 

WHEREAS, 71% percent of those affected by Government Pension Offset lose their entire spousal or survivor benefits and the Windfall Elimination Provision was not designed to affect the middle or low wage earners which cuts earned benefits which are substantial, commonly causing serious lifestyle reductions; and 

WHEREAS, both the GPO/WEP are based on faulty assumptions and were based on a decision to treat pensions from certain public positions as if they were the same as Social Security benefits, despite fact that these "non-covered " state and local positions have nothing to do with Social Security; and  

WHEREAS , GPO/WEP has unintended consequences that affect teachers in 15 states and police, firefighters, postal workers, air traffic controllers, federal government employees (hired before 1983 on CSRS), and some state, county, local, and special district workers; and 

WHEREAS, This disproportionately affects the education community (often the largest employer in a county) and mostly women and Educational Support Professionals who are overwhelmingly of color in many states; and WHEREAS, This can adversely affect the workers who are employed in those states who pay into Social Security but moved to a state that does not. 

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) advocates for Congressional action to support HR 82 to repeal GPO/WEP.