Bill Text: TX HCR39 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision from the Social Security program.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-11 - Referred to Pensions, Investments & Financial Services [HCR39 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HCR39-Introduced.html
87R8424 CLE-D | ||
By: Lambert | H.C.R. No. 39 |
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WHEREAS, The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) was | ||
enacted by Congress in 1983 to help shore up the financing of the | ||
Social Security program; and | ||
WHEREAS, Intended to eliminate a "windfall" for certain | ||
workers, the WEP reduces the Social Security benefits of a person | ||
who also receives a pension from a government job not covered by | ||
Social Security; and | ||
WHEREAS, The WEP penalizes teachers, firefighters, police | ||
officers, and other government employees who choose to serve their | ||
communities in jobs not covered by Social Security; when these | ||
public servants earn Social Security benefits from other work, they | ||
should receive those benefits in full without being penalized | ||
because of their public service; and | ||
WHEREAS, This punitive provision affects a teacher who does | ||
not earn Social Security benefits working in the public schools but | ||
does earn them working part-time or during the summer; under the | ||
WEP, the teacher's Social Security benefits are reduced by as much | ||
as 40 percent even though the teacher paid into the Social Security | ||
system just like other workers; likewise, the provision discourages | ||
qualified, talented individuals in the private sector from choosing | ||
public service if they have to sacrifice earned Social Security | ||
benefits from their private sector work; and | ||
WHEREAS, A very real inequity is created for police officers, | ||
who often retire earlier than other government employees and begin | ||
a second career that requires them to pay into the Social Security | ||
system; police officers who had second careers face as much as a 40 | ||
percent cut to their Social Security benefits; and | ||
WHEREAS, The WEP unfairly reduces the Social Security | ||
benefits of many Texans who devoted much of their careers to public | ||
service; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to | ||
eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision from the Social | ||
Security program; 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. |