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I believe that all retirees in our country deserve the full and fair retirement benefits they have earned in the Social Security system. I have informed people about the unfairness of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO).
Since 1983, these laws have denied about 2 million American citizens their full Social Security benefits. They have reduced or even eliminated their benefits. Over many years there have been bills that could have reformed or repealed WEP and GPO. But they failed to get the necessary support in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Only they have the legal authority to make changes within the Social Security system.
Supposedly, the government cannot “afford” to fully repeal WEP and GPO because the Congressional Budget Office has estimated it will cost $183 billion over 10 years. I find it insulting that presently our government is spending billions of taxpayer dollars to help immigrants and refugees that are not even U.S. citizens. And it continues to send billions of equipment and dollars to Ukraine. But the needs of the almost 2 million American citizens, who worked for years in communities as police, firefighters, teachers, clerks, mail carriers, bus drivers and other public servants, are being ignored and apparently considered unimportant.
Karen E. Holmes
Cooper