Maine Legislature Shows Its Support for Repealing Social Security’s WEP and GPO provisions.

On March 24, 2015 and March 25, 2015, the Senate and House passed unanimously a Joint Resolution, introduced by Senator Roger Katz (R-Kennebec), “Memorializing The President and Congress of the United States to Support the Reform of the Social Security Offsets of the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision.”

Copies of this Joint Resolution will be presented to Members of Maine’s Congressional Delegation and will be sent to the President of the United States, the Speaker of the House, and the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate.

The Maine Association of Retirees, representing approximately 14,000 recipients of a Maine Public Employees Retirement System pension, is actively advocating for changes in Social Security’s Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision.

Action on Social Security Windfall & Government Pension Offset Provisions

• FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE – The proposal by Representative Richard Neal (H.R. 4540) has 140 cosponsors, including Maine's Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden. H.R. 4540 reforms the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), providing eligible individuals a $150 monthly rebate before 2022, but does not address the Government Pension Offset (GPO). According to Mass Retirees CEO Shawn Duhamel, “Our members need relief from the WEP and they need it now.” There are no updates on the GPO.

Bills/Acts/Background

• The Public Servant Retirement Protection Act 
  A worker is “covered” by Social Security if he or she pays into Social Security through the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) payroll tax. Currently 96% of all workers are covered by Social Security. The majority of noncovered positions are held by federal, state, and local government employees.The current-law Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) reduces the Social Security retirement or disability benefits of workers who also receive a pension from employment not covered by Social Security. The goal of the WEP was to remove an unintended advantage that the regular Social Security benefit formula provided to employees who divided their careers between covered and non-covered positions. As of December 2019, approximately 4% of all retired workers are affected by the WEP..

• Government Pension Offset(GPO)/Windfall Elimination Provision(WEP)

  • Social Security: The Government Pension Offset (GPO)
    (Congressional Research Service)

  • Social Security: The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)
    (Congressional Research Service)

  • Roundup of GPO-WEP Bills Introduced in the 110th Congress
    (National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association)

Find Your State Legislators

All MAR Members should know their State Representative and Senators, and how to contact them.

When contacting your Reps in Augusta, mention that you are an active Maine Association of Retirees member and that MAR has nearly 12,000 active members statewide.