Published: 03-02-09
House and Senate Work Together to Repeal Arbitrary Windfall Elimination Provision
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and U.S. Representative Kevin Brady (R-TX) today introduced the Public Servant Retirement Protection Act to prevent teachers and public servants from losing retirement benefits in this struggling economy.
The measure repeals the current law requirement called the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) which unfairly reduces the Social Security of teachers and other public servants who also earn retirement from a Social Security substitute such as the Texas Teacher Retirement System. The bill replaces the WEP with a formula that gives equal treatment to public servants for the years they contributed to Social Security returning an estimated $8 billion to workers impacted today.
Teachers first responders and public service workers in Texas carefully plan for their later years. They deserve to receive benefits that are calculated accurately and represent their contributions to the Social Security system" said Sen. Hutchison. This legislation is the next step toward ensuring appropriate Social Security benefits for all Americans."
Hard working public servants should be allowed to keep every cent they worked for and should not have their wallets emptied by a flawed system" said Rep. Brady a member of the Social Security subcommittee. If you paid into Social Security you should receive the benefit you are entitled to just like everyone else."
When a workers career history includes jobs covered by Social Security and jobs in a Social Security substitute the government reduces the Social Security benefit by up to $372 a month. The Public Servant Retirement Protection Act accurately tailors the Social Security benefit to each worker for the wages and years they contributed to Social Security and to the Social Security substitute thereby increasing the benefit for approximately 1 million workers now impacted by the Windfall Elimination Provision.
