Bill Text: TX HCR25 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision of the Social Security Act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-12 - Left pending in committee [HCR25 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HCR25-Introduced.html
86R4973 KSM-F | ||
By: Neave | H.C.R. No. 25 |
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WHEREAS, Tens of millions of American workers and their | ||
families count on Social Security to provide a reliable minimum | ||
income in their retirement; and | ||
WHEREAS, Almost 50 percent of married couples and 75 percent | ||
of unmarried persons age 65 and older depend on Social Security for | ||
more than half of their total retirement income, and nearly a | ||
quarter of the married couples and almost half of the unmarried | ||
persons receive 90 percent or more of their income from the program; | ||
and | ||
WHEREAS, 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 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 spouses paid social security taxes for many years; and | ||
WHEREAS, The WEP, which affects benefits paid under Title II | ||
of the Social Security Act, lowers Social Security benefits for | ||
employees with public pensions, including teachers, law | ||
enforcement officers, and firefighters, as well as for their | ||
spouses and children, and can deprive a retiree of nearly $450 a | ||
month in social security benefits duly earned by that individual; | ||
and | ||
WHEREAS, These provisions in practice have had devastating | ||
consequences for employees who worked for many years as public | ||
servants including teachers, police officers, firefighters, and | ||
other public servants; almost two million employees and retirees | ||
are affected by either the GPO or the WEP or both; and | ||
WHEREAS, The GPO and WEP as applied to public employees cause | ||
tens of thousands of Texas 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 86th 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 president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |