81R5403 CBE-D
By: Herrero H.C.R. No. 61
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Social security is the foundation for retirement
income for millions of American workers and their families;
two-thirds of those older Americans who receive program benefits
rely on social security for 50 percent or more of their total
income, one-third rely on it for 90 percent or more, and for 21
percent it is their only source of income; and
WHEREAS, Two social security provisions, however, the
Government Pension Offset (GPO), enacted in 1977, and the Windfall
Elimination Provision (WEP), enacted in 1983, severely and unfairly
penalize recipients of public pensions; and
WHEREAS, The GPO effectively prohibits some government
retirees from collecting both their own pension and full social
security benefits as a surviving spouse; an estimated 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; and
WHEREAS, The WEP reduces the social security benefit for
public employees who did not participate in social security while
working for the government, but who at some time in their careers
were in jobs where they paid social security taxes for the period
required to qualify for retirement benefits; the WEP can deprive a
retiree of nearly $300 a month in social security benefits duly
earned by that individual; and
WHEREAS, Although these provisions were intended to curtail
the payment of windfall benefits to highly paid government
employees, in practice they have had and continue to have
devastating consequences for low-income employees who worked for
many years as public servants; more than one million government
employees and retirees are affected by either the GPO or the WEP or
both, and the repercussions are felt most acutely in Texas and 14
other states where a high proportion of public employees
participate in state or municipal retirement systems that do not
include social security; the cumulative loss of benefits as a
result of these penalties over the next 10 years has been projected
by the Congressional Budget Office to exceed $60 billion; and
WHEREAS, These punitive and discriminatory provisions target
hundreds of thousands of teachers, police officers, firefighters,
and other public servants; although the vast majority of Texas
school employees participate in the state's teacher retirement
system and therefore are not required to and do not participate in
the social security system, many Texas teachers and other public
school employees nonetheless have earned social security benefits
on their own behalf through other employment, the WEP
notwithstanding, or would be entitled to spousal social security
benefits based on their spouses' lifetime earnings were it not for
the GPO penalty; these provisions cause veteran teachers to retire
prematurely and discourage qualified individuals from entering the
teaching profession at precisely the time that Texas and the nation
face a severe shortage of highly qualified educators; and
WHEREAS, The GPO and WEP as applied to public employees is
unreasonable and unjust and will cause tens of thousands of
government retirees to experience a diminished quality of life or
be forced to return to work to make up for the effects of these
provisions; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to
repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination
Provision of the Social Security Act; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the
senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the
Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.