House Passes Amata-Cosponsored Social Security Fairness Act

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is welcoming House passage this week of the bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act, H.R. 82, which she cosponsored. 

The bill would eliminate two provisions of the Social Security Act that unfairly reduce benefits for more than 2 million Americans who have had public service careers, such as police officers, firefighters, educators and government employees. Led by Reps. Garret Graves (R-Louisiana) and Abigail Spanberger (D-Virginia), the bill passed the House by a vote of 327-75, sending it the Senate where it has the support of 62 U.S. senators. 

Specifically, the bill would eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), allowing better retirement incomes for these various public service retirees, rather than having their or their spouses Social Security unfairly reduced solely because of the career they had working for federal, state and local governments. 

“Many Samoans and other Pacific Islander Americans have retired from public service careers in the U.S., and with all these 2 million Americans, they should have their full Social Security and any spousal benefits along with any other retirement income they’ve earned over their careers,” said Congresswoman Aumua Amata. “This bill is another way to say thank you to these retired public servants for their dedication and is certainly the right thing to do.”

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