Have you heard of the W.E.P.? I have for good reasons

[Joe Nation]

The House just voted 'yes' on a bill that would increase Social Security checks for some pensioners
Published Wed, Nov 13 2024 2:50 PM EST
Lorie Konish

KEY POINTS
●Certain rules that reduce pensioners' Social Security benefits have been in place for decades.
●House lawmakers voted to approve a bill that would nix those rules.
●Critics say more comprehensive Social Security reform should be prioritized instead.

A bipartisan bill to change Social Security benefit rules for pensioners passed in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, with 327 lawmakers voting to support the measure.

Now, the proposal heads to the Senate, where the chamber's version of the bill has 62 co-sponsors, "surpassing the majority needed to pass the bill on the U.S. Senate floor and send it to the president's desk to be signed into law," Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Garret Graves, R-La., co-leaders of the bill, said in a joint statement.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/13/house-just-voted-yes-to-increase-social-security-for-some-beneficiaries.html

Why this matters. I retired a few years ago but haven't begun collecting Social Security until this month because I was waiting for my full retirement income at 66 and 8 months. Because I worked some portion of my life as a civil servant, I have both a defined benefit pension and social security income. However, because I have both, my social security is reduced by 1/3 thanks to the W.E.P. (Windfall Elimination Provision). This provision is outdated and really only penalizes people that worked in civil service jobs at this point.
Oddly enough, the only time I actually wrote to the Biden Administration, I asked them to address this issue. Never heard back from them but suddenly this looks like it might happen. I'm shocked to be honest. They've talked about doing this for years but it might actually happen.
BTW. I started collecting my first SS payment this week and the W.E.P. was applied.

[Wounded Bear]

1. Won't help me personally, but I'm glad shit like this is getting cleaned up...nt

[marybourg]

2. The "pensioners " referred to are Federal

government retirees, who did not contribute to S. S. during their government careers or jobs.

[Joe Nation]

5. Not exactly

State civil servants like teachers, firefights, police, university employees, and anyone working a civil service job.

[marybourg]

9. In some states, state and municipal workers

do pay into the S.S. system.

[cksmithy]

23. I paid into social security for close to 20 years

before I went to college and became a teacher in California. When I retired, my social security was reduced by 1/3 to 1/2 (I think) because I also received a CaliforniaStateTeachersRetirement, CALSTRs pension. If I had a few more quarters for ss, I think, you have to have 20 years, I would have been ok. Every year, I have to provide my current CALSTRs pension amounts to ss to make sure I not getting a few extra dollars. So basically, the money I paid for my ss retirement, I do not receive the full amount. If I hadn't fulfilled a life long dream of being a teacher, I personally would bring home more retirement money. Thankfully, I am married and together we are doing fine financially.

[Joe Nation]

35. Same here...

My SS benefit is reduced by at least 1/3 and my wife's is completely taken. We both have a teachers pension that is good enough to get by but the extra approx 1.5 K monthly would help greatly.

[haele]

8. Federal Gov. workers not paying Social Security ended in 1981.

Reagan started it the first year in office, because he was planning on breaking up the traditional pension system. This was a familiarize workers with the idea of owning their own retirement instead of depending on their employer to set aside funds and carry them as a debt for the rest of their lives.
The Reaganites also planned to eventually privatize Social Security Insurance once they got rid pensions. The 401k was developed soon after for the general public to mimic what they planned to do to Pensions and then on to SSI once a significant number of the older traditional SSI recipients passed on.

I've paid into Social Security since 1975, with the exception of a 3.5 year gap between when I first joined the Navy and Reagan put the Federal Gov. in the SSI program.

Haele

[marybourg]

10. Then WEP does not apply to you.

[Joe Nation]

21. WEP applies to about 4% of Social Security recipiants

It'll cost an additional 19.6 B annually to cancel the WEP.

[valleyrogue]

28. WEP is doable. There is a reason why there is no rush to "fix" SS.

There isn't anything really to "fix." Any supposed "shortfall" can be made up through the general fund.

[marybourg]

11. I worked for the federal government until 1987 and

didn’t pay into the S.S. system. I did pay into Medicare.

[haele]

12. It might have been an option in some Agencies..

Or Senior Management.
But not in the DoD for Military folks. Oh, the grumblings you heard from the Officer Corps, especially those from states with no Income Tax.

Haele

[marybourg]

14. No, I had no choice, or I would have opted to pay in. This was in DoD, civilian.

[dumbcat]

17. Not always true

I joined Federal Civil Service as a Dept of the Army Civilian (GS-13) in April of 1982. I retired in Oct 2010. I never paid Social Security during that time. I did pay into the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and I retired with a CSRS defined benefit pension.

I did have to pay into SocSec during the 12 years of Army active duty, and SocSec self-employment tax for the several consulting gigs I had going on the side. I do get a small SocSec payment each month, but it is greatly reduced by the WEP.

[BruceWane]

22. Wrong

WEP applies to people who worked in both typical private sector employment which paid into SS and in other jobs which have their own pension and did not pay into SS.

This applies to a lot of people who have worked for government entities, especially teachers and people who worked for school districts.

I worked in the private sector for 27 years before going to work for local school districts (first K-12 then higher ed).

I'll be eligible for both SS and a pension from the state. But my SS would be reduced by WEP due to the fact I was also collecting a state pension. It's not fair, because my SS is going to already be commensurate with the time and earnings I have in that system, IOW my SS is already going to be less than it would be if had spent my entire career in the private sector/SS.

WEP is a sliding scale dependent upon years in SS. If you've got 30 years in SS, WEP does not apply. Since I've got 27 in SS, my SS is/was going to be reduced by about $250/month.

[valleyrogue]

30. The kicker is you already lose money in SS because you didn't pay in.

Those are "zero years." The WEP is a PENALTY, totally arbitrary, on TOP of it.

[Onthefly]

3. I have retired but waited for full retirement. My first check arrives next week.

Hope this bill gets signed.

[Joe Nation]

20. Me too.

I got my first check this week.

I never thought it was fair for people like me to pay into SS for 20 years and then take a civil service job for the next 20 and be docked on the first 20 years. Even as a civil servant, I still paid 6 "percentish" that would have gone into SS into my pension system. People think that if you don't pay into the Federal system, you aren't paying any percent into retirement. That's untrue.
The law was intended for people with lucrative defined benefit pensions but nobody gets those anymore. Civil servants do not have lucrative pensions. Many are slightly above SS itself. Defined benefit pensions aren't even taught in business schools anymore because almost nobody has them.

[SheltieLover]

4. How does this clear the path to take a blowtorch to SS overall?

Surely it must or thugs would never have voted on it, much less passed it.

Congrats to you & others who are helped by this.

[Joe Nation]

6. Thats what I thought

But it has bipartisan support. It's really just a fix.

[SheltieLover]

7. TY

It's impossible for me to believe that rethugs brought legislation up for a vote and passed something to fix something that will benefit retireees, or anyone besides themselves.

[marybourg]

13. It will hasten the depletion date of the S.S. Trust Fund, since more money

will be paid out.

[Elessar Zappa]

15. It's still the right thing to do.

[marybourg]

16. As it applies to those who never paid into S.S., or who paid so

little that they qualify only for the minimum that is paid to everyone or to a spouse, yet they get a healthy government pension, I can see the reason behind it.

[Joe Nation]

24. Even as a civil servant, I paid the same %

I just didn't pay it to the feds. I paid it to state pension system. They gave me a pension but then Uncle Sam comes along and reduces the benefit that I earned as a non-civil servant. Becaaaaaause....why? I've never stopped paying into one system or the other my entire working life. 45 years.

[valleyrogue]

27. That is not the reality of the WEP.

The WEP is about those who DID pay into SS, earned enough quarters to get it, but went into work mid-career in public sector jobs that didn't pay into it. It doesn't matter HOW many years or how few years, once you are vested in a pension, to be docked for it. I have $120 docked from my SS, and I get a hell of a lot less, not even $900 a month not including Medicare, than some woman who never worked a day in her life and gets her full spousal benefits. That was for five stinking years in Nevada PERS, and I am STILL having to work at nearly 70 years of age to try and make up for lost time.

The WEP was always total bullshit, put through during the Reagan years because there was a problem with high-paid military who received large military pensions and then worked in the private sector in highly paid employment and getting larger SS benefits. What ended up happening was people like me were screwed over royal who had much shorter stints in public employment in states that didn't pay into it. It is completely arbitrary, based on the completely nonsense notion that everybody who works in public sector work works their whole lives in it and get "big pensions."

Those who worked "substantial earnings" for 30 years in SS covered employment and have non-SS covered work pensions are exempt from the WEP. I get shafted because I am on a nine-month contract for a school district in a state that does pay into SS, but my earnings fall just short of the "substantial earnings" cutoff, so my earnings don't count toward the 30 years.

The GPO is a completely different kettle of fish. If I were in Congress, I would separate the two.

[spooky3]

29. As others have said, you are incorrect about this.

Many state and other workers paid into a pension system for years, then went to work for a private employer and paid into Social Security for years. Both amounts (plus employer contributions) can be very substantial.

The rationale for the WEP reduction (see the SSA site for details) is this. The standard formula for calculating SS benefits gives relatively (to their pay) more to lower wage workers than to higher wage workers, because it is intended to be a safety net program rather than a full pension program. So if you worked for a state employer for 20 years w/o paying into SS, then a private employer for 15 years while paying into SS, the standard formula would treat you as having worked only 15 years and possibly at a lower rate of pay than if you had spent your entire career at one place, and give you a bit of a boost. That might be appropriate if you had worked for only 15 years, period, and the formula would consider you a fairly low paid person and provide a somewhat higher benefit. But in fact, maybe you were a middle income person for all those years. The WEP takes your public pension into account to reduce your SS benefit in an attempt to treat you more like other middle income people who worked a long time. However, many people are critical of the rationale and the calculations.

[valleyrogue]

31. That's the theory, but it is NOT the reality.

It hurts people with low or modest pensions the most, like yours truly.

[spooky3]

32. I agree, and that is why many are critical of it. nt

[SheltieLover]

19. There it is.

TY, Marybourg.

I hate them.

And Dems voted for it?

[valleyrogue]

26. Baloney. n/t

[A Brand New World]

18. This deduction has affected me since I retired in 2017.

I worked 20 years in social security jobs and 21 years in state government. Half of my social security was taken away. I so hope this is finally fixed. But I am not holding my breath.

[valleyrogue]

25. Yep. I know all about it.

I had over one-third of my tiny Nevada pension of some $350 deducted from my SS when I took early SS in 2017 at age 62. Between the WEP and Medicare, I am down $300 a month SS.

Repealing this idiotic WEP will help people like me a lot. My problem is at nearly age 70, I still have to work for the foreseeable future, but my job is such that I do not make enough in "substantial earnings" in order to be able to eventually offset the offset. I have been in the labor force 45 years, but there are perhaps a dozen very low years to offset plus the four years in Nevada where I didn't pay into SS at all from public employment there.

[Joe Nation]

34. Both my wife and myself have been hit by the W.E.P.

In her case, she worked 25 years in a state pension system. Before that, she did pay into the SS system for the required 40 quarters. Because she has an extremely high pension, her SS payment would amount to about $12 a month when the WEP is applied. Her full benefit at 67 would be $950 if it wasn't for the WEP.
That's a big difference in income.

[WarGamer]

33. In 2020, Biden promised to raise the base Social security benefit for those at the lower end... $1000ish