US Senate passes WEP/GPO Repeal

Just moments ago, repeal of the Social Security Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) laws passed the US Senate by an overwhelming vote of 76 to 20. HR82, the Social Security Fairness Act, is now on its way to President Biden for final approval and become federal law. The president is expected to approve the measure. Tonight’s historic vote marks the end of a 41-year battle to undue two unfair and unjust federal laws, which currently harm nearly 3 million public retirees. Once implemented, the Social Security benefits of current retirees harmed by WEP/GPO will be restored to the correct amount going forward. We will report details on when the adjustment may begin once information is available.

We are beyond relieved that those members who have been financially harmed by WEP/GPO will finally receive long overdue relief. The strength of our engaged and informed membership helped make this possible. Thank you to all of have helped!

On Thursday, afternoon, Mass Retirees Chief Executive Officer Shawn Duhamel had the opportunity to speak with Massachusetts Junior US Senator Ed Markey about the gravity of this important moment. Please view the attached video of their conversation. As a new member of the House in 1983, Markey was one of a handful of Democrats to vote against the Social Security Reform Act, which created WEP/GPO. Senator Markey now has had the privilege of bookending his 1983 NO vote with tonight’s YES vote to repeal WEP and GPO.

Mass Retirees greatly appreciates the years of dedicated support from our entire Massachusetts Congressional delegation to end these two laws. Thank you for your support of public retirees and for never giving up on these issues.

While there are many people and organizations to thank for their support and help over the years, we would like to single out a handful who have played an exceptional role in fighting to get to this special moment. To start, thank you to the individual retirees who have personally engaged in the decades-long grassroots advocacy to end these laws. We could not have achieved this victory without your help!

Here in Massachusetts, virtually every retiree organization, public employee union, and the AFL-CIO pitched in to get this done. However, we must say a special thanks to our friends from the PFFM and MassCop, who have lobbied on Capitol Hill side-by-side with Mass Retirees. Last week, we visited the office of every Republican Senator on record supporting full repeal of WEP/GPO. Those visits and conversations proved to make a key difference.

At the national level, while many organizations have been directly involved in this fight, three stand out for helping to finally get HR82 passed by both branches of Congress. The IAFF, under the leadership of our good friend General President Ed Kelly, and the Fraternal Order of Police were key in prioritizing the issue and gaining true bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. The Facebook group National WEP/GPO Repeal Coalition has been critical in building a national grassroots movement of individual retirees to directly engage with members of Congress. Combined, these groups mobilized an army of national support.

Finally, throughout our decades of work to end WEP and GPO there have been two individuals working tirelessly alongside of Mass Retirees: Tim Lee from the TRTA and our Washington, DC consultant and Association member Tom Lussier. There were many years when it seemed that Texas and Massachusetts were the only states focused on ending WEP/GPO. Tim and Tom stuck with us on these issues every step of the way. They are true friends and share in this extraordinary achievement.

Collectively, we have all worked together to finally repeal these unfair laws on behalf of the 2.8 million current retirees. We are thrilled to finally deliver a victory!

If you have received this email and are not a current member of Mass Retirees, please consider joining the Association today. https://massretirees.com/new-members-... We are able to advocate for all Massachusetts public retirees due to the strength of our well-informed and engaged membership. We also have growing Associate Member program for active public employees. This is an excellent way to stay informed and be better prepared for your future retirement, while helping to defend and improve your benefits.