Given the elation surrounding the passage of the Social Security Fairness Act, it is easy to overlook the years, in the not-so-distant past, when the issues of WEP/GPO were largely forgotten about on the national stage. During that period, many had given up on the issues as a “lost cause”.
Starting in 2014, Mass Retirees, the TRTA, and a small coalition of local public retiree and employee organizations from around the country worked together to keep the issues on the Congressional radar.
“Shortly after becoming Association President in 2013, I traveled with Shawn Duhamel to Washington, DC where we had a series of meetings with members of Congress, union leaders, and national retiree leaders on the topic of WEP/GPO. The message we received was universal: WEP/ GPO were no longer front burner issues. Full repeal was a dead end, due to the lack of a path through the US Senate,” recalls Association President Frank Valeri. “It seemed to us that almost everyone was simply going through the motions by refiling legislation that had no chance of being acted on. Traveling back to Massachusetts we concluded that a new approach was needed. That is when we approached Richie Neal about whether an interim step of reform was a viable alternative.”
For years, Massachusetts Congressman Richie Neal had been known on Capitol Hill as a key defender of Social Security. At that time, Neal was a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has oversight over Social Security. Mass Retirees had worked closely with Neal since the late 1990s on previous repeal and reform proposals.
Neal’s Republican counterpart on the Committee, Texas Republican Kevin Brady (see above), had previously filed a bill reforming the WEP. A fiscal conservative, Brady opposed full repeal but supported reforming the WEP – which he, like many of his Republican colleagues at the time, believed to be flawed and unfair.
“We quickly came to realize that Brady had a close working relationship with our friends the Texas Retired Teachers Association. TRTA Executive Director Tim Lee and I had already been working together for several years at that point and had expressed his Association’s growing frustration on the lack of progress,” said Association CEO Shawn Duhamel. “Together, we agreed that a new approach was needed that would breathe new life into the movement. Most important was the need to bring immediate relief to our members, who had given up hope that WEP/GPO would ever change.”
Working together, Neal and Brady developed a WEP reform proposal. The coalition viewed the proposal as a first step toward full repeal of both the WEP and GPO. “Back then, there was little to no interest from Republicans in Congress to address the GPO. In terms of reform, the WEP was also an easier mathematical fix based on a retiree’s own participation in Social Security. On the other hand, spousal and survivor benefits are more of a public policy decision, which is not without controversy and disagreement,” continued Duhamel. “We never stopped pushing for the inclusion of a GPO fix during those years, but a solid reform proposal never materialized.”
After a series of starts and stops, Brady and Neal parted ways in terms of offering a bipartisan bill in 2018. Insurmountable disagreements had arisen on the issue of paying for the reform, the size of the increase for existing retirees, and the application of a new proportional Social Security formula on future private sector retirees.
While a reform bill was not acted on, it seems to have reignited the focus of the Ways and Means Committee and brought public attention to the issues of WEP/GPO. Essentially, it helped to pave the way for what finally occurred in 2024.
“It goes without saying that full repeal is a far better outcome than a marginal reform. However, I stand by the decision we made back in 2014 and the work our Association put in over the years in search of relief for our members. At the time, with no other viable options available, seeking a compromise was the right thing to do,” said Valeri.
“It is sad to think about all the members we have lost over the years, who were victims of WEP/ GPO and never received any relief. Through all the countless meetings and advocacy efforts over the years, there was always one simple goal – to help our members. I’m so thankful that lightning finally struck and our members will be greatly helped.”