TCTA - Texas Classroom Teachers Association
11/11/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/11/2024 10:56
Vote expected this week 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) that limit Social Security benefits for many teachers and other public servants. The vote 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 that repeal efforts have advanced in more than 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 are not required to vote for passage when it reaches the floor. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that repeal of the GPO and WEP 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 tabled the measure due to disagreement over the structure and cost of HR 82, but consideration via the suspensions calendar could breathe life back into 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 does not, 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, and Related Agencies, 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. Eastern time (1 p.m. Central) for legislative business and votes will be postponed until 6:30 p.m. Eastern. House floor activity can be viewed online here.
TCTA will continue to monitor and report on the proceedings.