TCTA - Texas Classroom Teachers Association
11/11/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/11/2024 09:15
Vote expected Tuesday on Social Security bill in House
The U.S. House of Representatives has scheduled a vote for the week of Nov. 11 on a bill (HR 82) that would repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) which limit Social Security benefits for teachers and other public servants. It could come as early as Tuesday, Nov. 12.
The House plans to bring up the measure under the suspensions calendar, where amendments are not allowed, and passage requires a two-thirds vote rather than the usual simple majority. This is the farthest advancement that repeal efforts have realized in over the four decades since those provisions became law.
The bill currently has 330 House co-sponsors, well more than a two-thirds majority. However, members that co-sponsored the bill before the Nov. 5 elections are not required for vote for passage when it reaches the floor. The Congressional Budget Office released a cost estimate of HR 82 showing that repeal would increase Social Security spending by $196 billion over 10 years and shorten the time to insolvency of the trust fund. Last week, members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus attempted to table the measure as there is some disagreement in the structure and cost of the bill.
A counterpart Senate bill (S 597) has 62 co-sponsors, but should the measure be passed over from the House, it is unclear whether the Senate will call a vote before the current Congress ends. If it doesn't, backers would have to start all over under a new Congress in 2025. There is no counterpart maneuver in the Senate to compel a vote and there are other "must do" pieces of legalization that could monopolize floor time and political will.
Also of note is a hearing scheduled by the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, on Nov. 14 with the commissioner of the Social Security Administration to discuss solvency of the trust fund.
Timing of the floor vote is currently unknown. On Tuesday, the House will meet at 2 p.m. (1 p.m. Central) for legislative business and votes will be postponed until 6:30 p.m. House floor activity can be viewed online here.
TCTA will continue to monitor and report on the proceedings.