Social Security Fairness Act is Law, Repeals WEP/GPO

February 4, 2025: The title of an article on My Federal Retirement about the Social Security Fairness Act summarizes the situation clearly: “Social Security Says It Could Take More Than One Year to Implement Repeal of WEP, GPO“.

For more information on how this affects you as a current or potential Social Security recipient, see the Social Security Administration’s WEP and GPO Update page. You can subscribe to that page to be notified by email as new questions and answers are posted. NARFE also posted Frequently Asked Questions about the Social Security Fairness Act and the WEP/GPO repeal.

Background: H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023, was introduced in the House of Representatives on Jan. 9, 2023. The House referred it to its Ways and Means Committee; of its 41 members, 12 were cosponsors. In Illinois, 15 of our U.S. representatives were cosponsors, the state with the fifth most cosponsors. The related Senate bill was S. 597.

NARFE resources: Talking Points, State-by-State Impact for WEP and GPO

Previous Updates:

January 5, 2025: President Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act, H.R. 82, into law today at a White House ceremony. This Act repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) from the Social Security Amendments of 1983. 

August 1, 2024: Senate bill S. 597 gained one more co-sponsor for a total of 62. This includes both Illinois senators. Senator Tammy Duckworth was one of the 23 original co-sponsors on March 1, 2023.

September 19: Two more co-sponsors joined H.R. 82, for a total of 329. The required 218 representatives signed Discharge Petition #16. After the petition sat on the House calendar for seven legislative days, its filers, Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA) and Rep. Abigail Davis Spanberger (D-VA), requested a full House vote. Note: A discharge petition forces a vote on the floor without the relevant House committee issuing a report on the bill.

October 29: Another co-sponsor signed onto H.R. 82, for a count of 330.

November 12: As President Shackelford reported in a NARFE Newsline message – “We witnessed history tonight! We watched anxiously as the U.S. House of Representatives voted on the Social Security Fairness Act, H.R. 82, and, to our delight, saw a supermajority vote of 327-25 passage in favor to send it to the Senate, … In NARFE’s entire history, we have not made it this far in our concerted effort to repeal the harmful” WEP and GPO.

November 19: The Senate received H.R. 82 from the House.

December 10: H.R. 82 was read in the Senate for the first time.

December 11:
– Several employee associations and labor unions, including NARFE national officers, held a rally near the U.S. Capital. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer committed to bringing H.R. 82 to a floor vote. Reps. Graves and Spanberger also spoke to the audience. You can watch the rally on YouTube and hear remarks from Senator Schumer (5:34) and our National President (22:31), among others.
– H.R. 82 was read in the Senate the second time and placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders, Calendar No. 693.

December 12: Per NARFE, “Senator Schumer filed cloture on a motion to proceed to consider H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act, setting up the first of a series of Senate floor votes necessary to pass the bill …”.

December 18: The Senate voted 73-27 to advance H.R. 82 to a final vote. They must debate the bill and take a final vote, before they recess for the holidays.

December 21: The U.S. Senate passed H.R. 82 at 12:04 am by a vote of 76-20, the next to last step for repealing the WEP and GPO provisions of the Social Security Act. See the NARFE Update and President Shackelford’s statement for details.