Originally posted September 22, 2006

Legislative Update: Social Security Bill Faces Discharge Petition

The Social Security Fairness Act, H.R. 147, was introduced by Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) in January 2005. It would repeal both the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision. These offsets reduce or eliminate earned Social Security benefits for retirees who receive pensions for non-Social Security-covered employment. Co-sponsors of the bill from Ohio are Reps. Brown, Gillmor, Hobson, Kaptur, LaTourette, Kucinich, Ney, Pryce, Regula, Ryan, Schmidt, Strickland, Tiberi, Tubbs-Jones and Turner.

For reasons of cost and the desire to deal with total Social Security reform, leadership has not moved the bill. On Sept. 7 Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) introduced discharge petition H. Res. 987 to bring the Social Security Fairness Act to a prompt vote on the House floor. A discharge petition requires 218 signatures.