It is unfathomable to me that Congress considers the benefits I earned from two jobs to be a windfall.

WEP slashes the Social Security retirement benefits that can be received by most individuals who collect a pension from a job that was not covered by the program, using a rather blunt formula that does not change until a person exceeds 20 years of work under Social Security. H.R. 4391 from Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, would replace WEP with a formula that adjusts Social Security retirement benefits for public employees in a way that would reflect their level of participation in the program and, according to congressional aides, would tend to be more generous to retirees who are now affected by WEP.

The bill was strongly supported by representatives of teachers and police officers at the hearing, with several witnesses saying it would help recruiting efforts and would be a good "first step" toward repeal of WEP and the government pension offset (GPO), which reduces or eliminates spousal and survivor's benefits for most retirees who collect a pension from a job that was not covered by Social Security. The bill does not address GPO, although Randall Iglehart, state president of the Association of Texas Professional Educators, a CPRS member, urged the committee to amend the bill in a way that would "lessen the effects of GPO for public educators."

Terry Hickman of the Nevada State Education Association, speaking on behalf of the National Education Association, a CPRS national partner, told the committee that, for several years, while working as a teacher in a non-covered system, he worked a second job that was covered by Social Security. Although he worked in the second job long enough to be eligible for Social Security benefits, his teacher's pension will result in those benefits being sharply decreased. "It is unfathomable to me that Congress considers the benefits I earned from two jobs to be a windfall," he said.

Chuck Canterbury, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, another CPRS national partner, also said that calling the collection of two earned benefits a "windfall" is inaccurate. WEP, he said, "has resulted in a windfall for the federal government at the expense of public employees."

While committee members seemed sympathetic to those affected by WEP and many expressed support for H.R. 4391, the cost of the bill and the challenges of implementing it remain obstacles to passage. Martin Gerry, a deputy commissioner with the Social Security Administration, detailed the difficulties of recomputing benefits, estimating that it would take $190 million and 2,600 work years - that is, the equivalent of 2,600 people working full-time for one year - to sort out all the numbers. Congress, though, is more concerned about the bill's price tag, which would reach $7 billion over 10 years, enough to make passage in a time of large budget deficits improbable. Committee Chairman Clay Shaw, R-Fla., however, championed the measure, saying he would "work hard to try to get it done this year."