Senator Collins Introduces Social Security Fairness Act

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I am pleased to join with my colleague from California, Senator Feinstein, in introducing the Social Security Fairness Act, which repeals two provisions of current law—the windfall elimination provision, WEP, and the government pension offset, GPO—that unfairly reduce earned Social Security benefits for many public employees. This legislation is of tremendous importance to Maine's teachers, police officers, firefighters and other public employees who currently are unfairly penalized for working in the private sector when the time comes for them to retire.

Despite their challenging, difficult and sometimes dangerous jobs, these invaluable public servants often receive far lower salaries than private sector employees. It is therefore doubly unfair to penalize them and hold them to a different standard when it comes to their Social Security retirement benefits.

Moreover, at a time when we should be doing all that we can to attract qualified people to public service, this unfair reduction in Social Security benefits makes it even more difficult for our communities to recruit and retain the teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other public employees who are so critical to the safety and well-being of our families.

The government pension offset and windfall elimination provisions affect government employees and retirees in virtually every State, but their effect is most acute in Maine and 14 other States where most public employees are not covered by Social Security. Nationwide, more than one-third of teachers and school employees, and more than one-fifth of other public employees, are not covered by Social Security. Approximately 250,000 retired Federal, State and local government employees across the country have already been adversely affected by these provisions. Thousands more stand to be affected in the future.

The Social Security windfall elimination provision reduces Social Security benefits for retirees who paid into Social Security and who also receive a government pension from work not covered under Social Security, such as pensions from the Maine State Retirement Fund. While private sector retirees receive monthly Social Security checks equal to 90 percent of their first $561 in average monthly career earnings, government pensioners are only allowed to receive 40 percent—a harsh and unjust penalty of $280.50 per month.

The government pension offset reduces an individual's survivor benefit under Social Security by two-thirds of the amount of his or her public pension. Estimates indicate that 9 out of 10 public employees affected by the GPO lose their entire spousal benefit, even though their deceased spouses paid Social Security taxes for many years.

This offset is, unfortunately, most harsh for those who can least afford the loss: lower-income women. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the GPO reduces benefits for some 200,000 individuals by more than $3,600 a year—an amount that can make the difference between a comfortable retirement and poverty.

This simply is not fair and not right. Our teachers and other public employees face difficult enough challenges in their day-to-day work. Individuals who have devoted their lives to public service should not have the added burden of worrying about their retirement, and these two onerous provisions should be repealed.

This is an issue that I have heard about at the grocery store, at my church, and even at my 30th high school class reunion from my many friends who have entered the teaching profession and who are committed to living and working in Maine. They love their jobs and the children they teach, but they worry about the future and about their financial security in retirement.

I also hear a lot about this issue in my constituent mail. Patricia Dupont, for example, of Orland, ME, wrote that, because she taught for 15 years under Social Security in New Hampshire, she is living on a retirement income of less than $13,000 after 45 years of teaching. Since she also lost survivors' benefits from her husband's Social Security, she calculates that a repeal of the WEP and GPO would double her current retirement income.

Wendy Lessard, an English teacher at Mt. Desert Island High School, is an example of another unfortunate consequence of the laws. After 10 years of teaching, she is now considering whether or not to continue her career because of the Social Security penalties associated with her teacher's pension. She tells me that she has worked vacations in her summers and off-hours to be able to make a better wage and pay back her student loans. She is just the kind of teacher we want teaching our students, but is now contemplating leaving the profession because of her concerns about financial security in retirement.

Moreover, these provisions also penalize private sector employees who leave their jobs to become public school teachers. Ruth Wilson, a teacher from Otisfield, ME, wrote:

I entered the teaching profession two years ago, partly in response to the nationwide pleas for educators. As the current pool of educators near retirement in the next few years, our schools face a crisis. Low wages and long hard hours are not great selling points to young students when selecting a career.

I love teaching and only regretted my decision when I found out about the penalties I will unfairly suffer. In my former life as a well-paid systems manager at State Street Bank in Boston, I contributed the maximum to Social Security each year. When I decided to become an educator, I figured that because of my many years of maximum Social Security contributions, I would still have a livable retirement "wage." I was unaware that I would be penalized as an educator in your State.

Maine, like many States, is currently facing a serious shortage of teachers, and we simply cannot afford to discourage people from pursuing important careers in public service in this way. I am therefore pleased to join Senator Feinstein in introducing this legislation to repeal these two unfair provisions, and I urge my colleagues to join us as cosponsors.