Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) Legislative Update
Legislation calling for the full repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) was introduced in the House in January of 2019, HR 141, "The Social Security Fairness Act". A Senate Bill, S.521, was also introduced in February of 2019.
Previous legislation was introduced in the 2018 Congress under bill number HR 6933 and co-authored by Congressman Brady and Congressman Neal, “The Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act of 2018.” This bill was designed to provide relief from WEP via a new calculation of the reduction in benefits (reduced Social Security payments for those persons who have pensions from other sources), however, that legislation did not include US citizens living and working overseas. In fact, the bill language specifically excluded persons receiving pensions from foreign employers so any benefit from the new calculation would not benefit Americans overseas. See the language excluding US citizens living and working overseas in paragraph (E).
In June of 2019, House Ways and Means Chairman Neal announced that he is working on a new bill for WEP. It is unclear what the specifics of the bill will entail. Chairman Neal has stated, “I am developing a revised bill to provide meaningful WEP relief to current retirees and public employees while treating all workers fairly, which I will introduce this summer.” ACA is monitoring Chairman Neal's progress on the bill and will be providing a statement.