HBA-BSM H.R. 1077 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.R. 1077
By: Berman
Pensions & Investments
5/18/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Social security is the foundation for retirement income for millions of
American workers and their families. Approximately two-thirds of older
Americans rely on social security for 50 percent or more of their total
income, and 30 percent rely on it for 90 percent or more.  The Government
Pension Offset (GPO), a social security provision enacted in 1977, may
unfairly penalize recipients of public pensions.  The GPO has the effect of
reducing or in many cases eliminating the social security benefit for
spouses, widows, or widowers who also receive a pension based on their own
work for federal, state, or local government entities not covered by social
security.  For example, as many as 266,000 low-income and middle-income
women, who have worked in such positions as clerical employees, cafeteria
workers, bus drivers, and librarians are affected by the GPO, as the offset
most drastically affects low-income widows, causing many to live near or
even below the poverty level.  This provision targets hundreds of thousands
of teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other public servants
because it applies only to recipients of public pensions.  Recipients of
private-sector pension benefits are not subject to the same penalty.
Although the pension offset provision was intended to curtail the payment
of windfall benefits to highly paid government employees, there is concern
that it has had and continues to have potentially devastating and
unintended consequences for low-income public service employees.  The GPO
may cause tens of thousands of retired government employees to live out
their retirement years in poverty.  House Resolution 1077 urges the
Congress of the United States to repeal the Government Pension Offset
provision of the Social Security Act. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this resolution
does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Resolution 1077 urges the Congress of the United States to repeal the
Government Pension Offset provision of the Social Security Act.