The chairman of the House committee that oversees Social Security has requested that a hearing be held to examine the government pension offset (GPO) and windfall elimination provision (WEP).

GPO reduces or eliminates Social Security spousal and survivors benefits for retirees who collect pensions from jobs that were not covered by the program, while WEP slashes Social Security retirement benefits for individuals who are eligible for them in addition to pensions from non-covered jobs.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., noted in a June 27 letter to Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., sponsor of legislation that would repeal GPO and WEP, that he has asked that the Ways and Means panel's Social Security Subcommittee hold a hearing on the two measures.

"I agree that the impact of these provisions on retired public servants raises some very serious issues that Congress should review," Rangel wrote. "Given the widespread interest in this legislation among Members of Congress, and the intense constituent concern, your bill to repeal these provisions deserves to be examined."

Berman's bill has 322 cosponsors, representing far more than half of the 435 members of the House of Representatives. Other repeal bills have had similarly large numbers of cosponsors in previous sessions of Congress without ever so much as getting a committee hearing, though.

Much of the reluctance to address GPO and WEP relates the $62 billion cost (over 10 years) of eliminating them. Rangel noted this expense in his letter, but still said that, "we cannot ignore these inequities and I promise to revisit the issue."

Coalition to Preserve Retirement Security officials have advised caution on GPO and WEP out of concern that repeal could be traded for mandatory Social Security coverage for all newly-hired public employees, a move that would cost state and local governments $44 billion over five years and could lead to tax increases, cuts in government services and the destabilization of existing public pension plans.