FEW Applauds Subcommittee Hearing on GPO/WEP; Submits Written Testimony

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Federally Employed Women
(FEW) applauds Chairman Michael McNulty's decision to hold a hearing on the
unfairness of two Social Security provisions -- the Government Pension Offset
(GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) -- on, among others, federal
workers. FEW has also prepared written testimony
(http://www.few.org/docs/newsroom/gpowephousetest08.pdf) for the hearing being
held tomorrow detailing how these provisions adversely impact federally
employed women.
"FEW supports the repeal of both of these unfair provisions," FEW's
President Rhonda Trent stated. "Both the GPO and WEP lower the retirement
income of federal employees by altering the Social Security benefit formula
for certain groups. What is particularly egregious is that spousal and
retirement benefits are reduced for Americans simply because they worked for
the federal government. This is just not fair," Trent added.
Repeal of the GPO and WEP have been top legislative priorities for FEW
over the last several congressional sessions. FEW's Immediate Past President
testified twice before a House Subcommittee about the negative effects these
provisions have had on federally employed women and retirees. FEW's grassroots
advocates have also been sending letters to their legislators urging them to
co-sponsor and support several full and partial repeal bills. FEW is also
collecting anecdotes on how these provisions impact constituents in every
congressional district nationwide, which is scheduled to be released soon.
"We firmly believe that both measures have more of a detrimental effect on
women than men because females are more likely to temporarily leave the
workforce (for about 12 years) to fulfill the obligations and responsibilities
related to family care issues," asserted Cecelia Davis, FEW's Vice President
for Congressional Relations. "That is time she is not earning a pension,
vesting in a pension or contributing to Social Security," Davis concluded.
As seen in FEW's testimony, low-income women are particularly impacted by
these provisions primarily because they have not been able to contribute as
much to their pensions as their male counterparts. Many of these women simply
cannot afford to retire and are still working well into their 70s and 80s
after serving a lengthy career as a Public Servant.
The FEW leaders, however, acknowledge that compromise might be necessary
and full repeal might have to be enacted step by step. Therefore, FEW supports
several other pieces of legislation that would provide partial fixes to the
system and help those most in need -- lower-income widows and women.
"FEW's primary goal is for our retirees to obtain their earned benefits
and to be able to enjoy their retirement years after decades of service with
the federal government," stated Janet Kopenhaver, the organization's lobbyist
and President of Eye on Washington. "Therefore, we have evaluated all the GPO
and WEP bills introduced in the Congress so far, and included our views on
each in our testimony. On behalf of the one million federally employed women
(both civilian and military), we ask that Congress consider our views when
moving forward on any fixes to these unfair Social Security provisions,"
Kopenhaver requested.
Among the bills FEW supports are the Social Security Fairness Act
(S 206/HR 82); the Public Servant Retirement Protection Act of 2007 (S 1647/HR
2772) and the Windfall Elimination Provision Relief Act (HR 726).
FEW is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1968 after Executive
Order 11375 was issued that added sex discrimination to the list of prohibited
discrimination in the federal government. FEW has grown into a proactive
organization serving more than one million federally employed women -- both in
the military and civilian workforce.
SOURCE Federally Employed Women

Janet Kopenhaver, +1-703-528-7822, for Federally Employed Women