Offsetting the Offset From the May/June Secure Retirement Legislation to fix an unfair Social Security provision is making headway in Congress. Joan Lonnemann has worked as a seasonal employee for the Internal Revenue Service for 34 years. She receives a Social Security spouse benefit of $518 a month based on her retired husband's earnings record. She'd like to retire and receive her own public pension benefit, which she calculates would be around $750 a month. But she doesn't dare. She knows that the moment she starts getting her own benefit, she will lose a big chunk of her spouse benefit. In fact, because of the government pension offset, her spouse benefit go down to just $18 a month. This means her total monthly retirement benefit-even if her husband should die before-will be only $768 per month, or $9,216 a year. Mrs. Lonnemann doesn't think that's fair. And neither do a growing number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. With strong bi-partisan support, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., has introduced a bill to soften the blow inflicted by the government pension offset law, a decades-old provision that unfairly penalizes many low- and middle-income women. When he introduced his bill, Mr. Jefferson, quipped that if William Shakespeare had been a government employee, he would have redirected the line from Julius Caesar, which says: "This was the most unkindest cut of all," to describe the Government Pension Offset. The offset kicks in when a retiree receiving a pension from a state, federal or local government job not covered by Social Security is also eligible to receive a Social Security spouse or survivor benefit from a husband or wife whose work was covered by Social Security. The government retiree's Social Security spouse benefit is offset by two-thirds the value of the government pension. This law has reduced or entirely wiped out the spouse or survivor benefit of nearly 266,000 people, most of them low- and middle-income women who cannot afford the loss. Clerical workers, cafeteria ladies, bus drivers and librarians are punished just because they worked for a government, says Mr. Jefferson. The offset does not apply to retirees who receive private-sector pension benefits as well as Social Security spouse or survivor benefits, he adds. "If retirees on private pensions do not have Social Security benefits subject to the offset, why should retirees who worked in public service?" Mr. Jefferson asks. Mr. Jefferson's bill, the Government Pension Offset Reform bill, H.R. 1217, entered the ring with whopping 119 co-sponsors, and would allow pensioners and widows affected by the offset to have a combined Social Security spouse or survivor and public pension benefit of $1,200 per month before the offset kicks in. The amount would be adjusted yearly for inflation. The legislation would cost about $200 million per year, says the congressman. Expecting some resistance in the House among those believe Social Security reform should come before any pension offset fix, he counters that correcting the problem is an issue of fundamental fairness which should be resolved as soon as possible. Many senior advocacy organizations agree. The Coalition to Assure Retirement Equity (CARE), a group of 43 organizations and associations including the National Committee, strongly supports Mr. Jefferson's legislation, as does the National Association of Retired Federal Employees and the National Education Association. National Committee President Martha McSteen praised Mr. Jefferson's work on the issue and offered the organization's endorsement of the bill. "Hundreds of thousands of those affected by the pension offset face undue economic hardship," Mrs. McSteen says. "The most adversely affected are widows and separated or divorced women. The offset often leaves them with incomes close to, or even below, the poverty level." At presstime, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., a long-time foe of the government pension offset, was expected to produce a companion bill in the Senate. Language similar to Mr. Jefferson's bill was included in S.8, a broader pension reform bill. This inclusion indicates that support is growing in the Senate, say National Committee experts. -by Trudi Jo Davis ACTION CALL: We need your help to pass the Government Pension Offset Reform bill, H.R. 1217, which will help many of those affected by the Government Pension Offset. If you talk to your representative of senators about this issue, be sure to mention you are a member of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. If you'd like more information or want to get actively involved in this effort, call the National Committee at 1-800-966-1935. Back to Top