Thousands of former Louisiana public workers could gain from U.S. House vote on Social Security
WASHINGTON — After decades of attempts to change the law, the U.S. House will vote on a bill that would allow thousands of former Louisiana police officers, firefighters, teachers, and state and local government workers who move on to private-sector jobs to benefit from the money they must pay into Social Security.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s office sent out an email Friday saying the bill would be considered in November, according to a congressional staffer. The Social Security Fairness Act, HR 82, would eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision, called WEP, and the Government Pension Offset, or GPO, sections of the Social Security law. Those provisions curb benefits for about 2.8 million public employees nationwide, including 90,000 in Louisiana.
“I proudly co-sponsored HR 82 in this Congress and in the past because the WEP/GPO is a flawed formula that has harmed thousands in Louisiana, and as Majority Leader I am announcing I will bring this bill to the House floor for a vote this fall,” Scalise said.
The chief sponsors, Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, and Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Virginia, by Thursday evening had acquired enough signatures — half the House — on what is called a “discharge petition” that forces a floor vote. Graves and Spanberger launched the petition earlier this month when House leadership wouldn’t advance the legislation.
“Congress is broken,” Graves said. “It’s an incredibly dysfunctional place, but I’ve loved watching what’s happened on this whole initiative. On a bipartisan basis, we have taken on something that is completely unjust that has been going on for over four decades.”
Spanberger struck a similar note: “These Americans shouldn’t have their retirement benefits slashed — and in some cases altogether eliminated — just because they chose to dedicate part of their careers to serving our communities.”
Scalise’s action replaces the process that would have occurred under the discharge petition and could bring the bill to a vote faster.
“In order to bypass the procedural hurdles that come with a discharge petition, Leader Scalise has announced that he is scheduling under ‘suspension of the rules,’ effectively turning off the discharge petition in favor of this more expedited pathway,” said a congressional staffer familiar with the discussions.
Janis Hernandez, legislative chair for the Louisiana Retired Teachers Association, called the progress “historic.”
“This will be the first time it ever got to the floor for a vote in 40 years,” Hernandez said.
She credits Graves for continuing to pressure House leadership to take up the measure even though he is in the last months of his tenure in Congress, as is Spanberger.
The House resolution currently has 326 bipartisan co-sponsors in the 435-member House, and its Senate companion has 62 co-sponsors in the 100-member body. Nevertheless, the legislation still has a steep climb before becoming law.
The House will meet only five more days this month before its members leave to campaign during October for the congressional and presidential elections in November. The House is scheduled to reconvene on Nov. 12 and will be in session for only eight days before adjourning again.
If the bill is passed by the House, it must be considered by the Senate and approved before Dec. 31.
The Windfall Elimination Provision currently impacts about 2 million Social Security beneficiaries nationwide, and the Government Pension Offset impacts nearly 800,000.
In a December 2023 count by the Congressional Research Service, 53,863 Louisiana Social Security beneficiaries were being affected by the windfall provision, and 40,673, mostly widows, by the offset provision.
“Our teachers, firefighters, police officers, and federal employees should not be penalized when it comes to collecting their pensions,” said Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans. “We must change this antiquated law and give people the benefits they’ve earned.”
Trey Boudreaux, executive director of LASERS, which provides pensions for Louisiana state employees, said eliminating the two provisions would bring “significant relief” to the state’s public employees.
The two provisions were included in the law in 1983 when lawmakers were trying to stabilize Social Security finances.
The “windfall elimination” provision was aimed at public workers in 16 states, including Louisiana, that have pension plans and didn’t pay into Social Security. It reduces Social Security benefits for many retired or disabled workers.
The “pension offset” provision reduced benefits to spouses or widows of workers who receive pensions that weren’t subject to the Social Security payroll tax.
Many public workers have more than one career. Some police forces, for instance, require officers to retire after a set number of years. When they take new jobs in the private sector, they contribute to Social Security. But when they retire from those jobs, the amount of Social Security benefits they can collect is reduced by the amount of their law enforcement pension, regardless of how much they contributed to Social Security.
Many teachers in Louisiana take second jobs, work during the summer or join the profession after another career, said Cynthia Posey, executive director for the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, a labor union. Upon retirement, many teachers, cafeteria workers and other school employees discover they won’t receive all the money put into Social Security because of the two provisions.
“I can’t tell you how many teachers come to us in tears saying that they can’t retire,” Posey said.
“We have members on SNAP (food stamps) and other federal programs that they could get off, if their Social Security benefits were paid to them,” added Hernandez, of the Retired Teachers Association.
Repairing the complex formula that led to the unintended consequence has proven difficult, particularly since it would cost about $200 billion. That money would come from the Social Security trust fund rather than from a direct appropriation by Congress.
The trust fund reserves are projected to be depleted by 2035, according to the 2024 Trustees’ Report on Social Security. At that point, all retirees will see a reduction in their Social Security benefits unless Congress revamps the entire system. The $200 billion cost would speed the depletion date.
Trying to sort out the cost issue without further stressing the trust fund has led to repeated breakdowns in getting a vote on the bill.