Suggested Message to U.A. House of Reps Re: H.R. 82

I am writing to ask for your help in cosponsoring H.R. 82 (Graves-LA and Spanberger-VA) since you were one of the cosponsors of this bill in the 117th Congress. This bipartisan bill will repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO), penalties that financially harm millions of retirees across our nation.

The WEP and GPO cut or eliminate Social Security benefits that retirees have paid for. The WEP cuts the earned benefits of public service workers that they paid for during their time working in the private sector. The GPO eliminates the Social Security survivor benefit, even for those with a modest pension. Retired educators can be forced into poverty when their spouse dies, even though their survivor benefit had been paid for by their spouse.

Now is the time to take action to repeal these two unjust penalties. The nation has been seeing an exodus of teachers who are either leaving the profession or retiring earlier than planned. The repeal of these two offsets is an important step to help to turn the tide in favor of teachers remaining in the classroom.

Please cosponsor the bipartisan bill H.R. 82 (Graves – LA and Spanberger – VA) and move this issue to the forefront.