Democrats Killing Social Security Faster, Adding Millions Who Paid No SS Taxes

December 11th Rally: The DC Swamp rallies to demand TWO pensions. Here, Senator Warren (D-MA) raises her fist in anger against the system she built.

The White House and The Hill are working overtime to throw taxpayer dollars at their political friends, DC Swamp snakes and public employee unions. The so-called Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82), a bill that will hasten the bankruptcy of the Social Security system, passed the House and is headed to the Senate where it is expected to pass. Lame Duck Biden will sign this legislation because it is another way to get back at Americans who gave Trump a landslide and ended the Democrat monopoly in DC.

The bill will add even more strain on the Social Security system, which is already on schedule to reduce monthly benefits down to less than 80% beginning in 2035. This windfall for government employees will add an estimated $195 billion to federal deficits over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Conservatives oppose the bill, decrying its cost.

RIPPING OFF REAGAN’S BANDAID

In the 1980s the Social Security Faux Trust Fund was scheduled to run dry within two decades so federal lawmakers made several changes: 1) Slowly raised age for full retirement benefits from 65 to 67; 2) Set up a schedule wherein the maximum amount of taxed income would increase each year, putting ever more taxes into the SS system; 3) Taxed benefits for the first time, which Trump 47 vows to end; and 4) Passed the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). President Ronald Reagan signed this bill in 1983.

The federal government and most state & local governments do not deduct Social Security taxes from their employees. However, most government employees have worked for private employers at some point during their working lives where they did pay SS taxes. Thus, such retirees received two pensions: Social Security and Federal Pension, which was deemed to be a “windfall” that non-government employees did not receive. Thus, the WEP^ was enacted in 1983. [The Government Pension Offset (GPO) had been passed in 1977 and applied to the spouses and widows of government retirees.]^^

Repealing WEP and GPO is supposed to add 2.8 million new beneficiaries to the already overburdened Social Security system. [This estimate seems way, way too low.] These beneficiaries did not pay SS taxes during the years they worked for federal, state and/or local governments. Immediately, upon passage, the amount of retirement benefits will be retroactive for benefits paid on or after January 1, 2024. It is unclear if the repeal of WEP will increase benefits for retirees who retired before 1/1/24. If the answer is “yes,” there will be millions & millions more than the stated 2.8 million who will receive increased SS payments.

This legislation passed the House on a bipartisan vote, 327 - 75. The bill still needs support from at least 60 senators to pass the senate. It would then head to Biden’s desk.

The American Postal Workers Union has been pushing for this legislation for decades. Helping to push the legislation over the finish line was a coalition of public-sector retirees from the National WEP/GPO Repeal Task Force, including APWU members, who spent November 12th on Capitol Hill, visiting congressional offices.

On December 11th, standing alongside labor leaders and union members in the pouring rain, Senator Schumer joined the rally outside the Capitol and pledged to bring the bill to the floor for a vote.

^The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) can affect how Social Security calculates your retirement or disability benefit. If you work for an employer who doesn’t withhold Social Security taxes from your salary, any retirement or disability pension you get from that work can reduce your Social Security benefits. Such an employer may be a government agency or an employer in another country.

^^The Government Pension Offset (GPO) is a Social Security Administration provision that reduces spousal or widow(er) benefits for people who receive non-covered government pensions. The GPO reduces the spousal or widow(er) benefit by two-thirds of the monthly non-covered government pension. Congress created the GPO in 1977 to ensure that spousal and widow(er) benefits would be roughly equal for those with covered or non-covered lifetime earnings.