Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., pledged Wednesday to bring the Social Security Fairness Act up for a vote before the congressional session ends on Jan. 3. Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images
Schumer tells feds he’ll call a vote on windfall elimination provision repeal
The Social Security Fairness Act, which would repeal to controversial tax provisions affecting some federal workers and retirees, has 63 sponsors in the Senate, more than the 60 votes needed to force a vote on the measure.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told unions and federal employee groups Wednesday that he will schedule a vote on the Senate floor on legislation to repeal two controversial tax provisions that reduce some public servants’ retirement benefits just weeks before the end of the congressional session and Democrats’ control of the chamber.
Schumer’s remarks came at a rain-soaked rally, organized by lawmakers and organized labor on Capitol Hill in support of the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82), which passed the House by a 327-75 vote last month.
“I’m here to tell you that the Senate is going to take action on the Social Security Fairness Act,” Schumer said. “You’re going to find out which senators are with you, and which are against you. I’ve got all of my Democrats lined up to support it . . . and we need 15 Republicans, so let’s get them, and we’re going to have the vote. What’s happening to you is unfair, it’s un-American and I will fight it all the way.”
If enacted, the legislation would repeal Social Security’s windfall elimination provision and government pension offset. The windfall elimination provision reduces the Social Security benefits of retired federal employees who spent a portion of their careers in the private sector in addition to a federal, state or local government job where Social Security is not intended as an element of their retirement income, such as the Civil Service Retirement System. And the government pension offset reduces spousal and survivor Social Security benefits in families with retired government workers.
Despite broad bipartisan support for years, lawmakers struggled to advance the legislation. Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Garret Graves, R-La., the bill’s House architects, ultimately filed a discharge petition to force leadership to bring the bill up for a vote.
“Three-hundred and twenty-seven people voted for this bill because they know that their constituents across the country, who paid into [Social Security] and devoted themselves to public service, week by week and month by month see their earned benefits taken away because of an accounting gimmick that Congress enacted decades and decades ago,” Spanberger said. “And we are two steps away from getting it fixed: first, when the Senate brings it up for a vote, and then the last stop is to go to the president’s desk. And I promise you that when this bill goes to the president’s desk, we will see the righting of a wrong that has impacted so many for so long.”
“This injustice has been going on for 40 years now,” Graves said. “For 40 years, your money has been stolen, you’ve been discriminated against and this is absolutely unacceptable. And despite the odds, despite the fact that no one has been able to get this bill a vote in the House of Representatives, because of what you did and because of what we did, we’ve actually gotten his bill through the House with an overwhelming bipartisan vote.”
In the Senate, companion legislation already has 63 cosponsors, more than 60 votes are needed to defeat a filibuster and force an up-or-down vote on the bill. The congressional session ends on Jan. 3.