{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cassidy-calls-for-senate-vote-to-repeal-wep-gpo-quit-wasting-time-on-biden-harris-judicial-nominees/", "Cassidy Calls for Senate Vote to Repeal WEP, GPO, Quit Wasting Time on Biden-Harris Judicial Nominees", "2024-12-02", "2024", "2024-12", "Republican", "Senate", "LA", "Bill Cassidy", "C001075", "www.cassidy.senate.gov", "cassidy", "https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/?jsf=jet-engine:press-list", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) took to the U.S. Senate floor calling on the Senate Majority Leader to stop wasting time on last-minute, lame duck Biden-Harris judicial nominees, and take up the Social Security Fairness Act after it passed with overwhelming support in the U.S. House of Representatives last week. The Social Security Fairness Act would repeal two unfair Social Security provisions known as Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO).\n\n\u201cWe can repeal two unfair Social Security provisions with the Social Security Fairness Act today if the Majority Leader schedules a vote,\u201d said Dr. Cassidy. \u201cWEP and GPO penalize families across the country who worked a public service job for part of their career with a separate pension. We\u2019re talking about police officers, firefighters, teachers, and other public employees who are punished for serving their communities.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe owe it to every public servant who has taught our children, protected our streets, ran into burning buildings, and more to get this passed. The time for political theater is over! It is time to get serious and vote on legislation that matters,\u201d continued Dr. Cassidy. \u201cI am ready to vote yes on the Social Security Fairness Act and repeal WEP and GPO for Louisianans and Americans across the country.\u201d\n\nCassidy is a long-time cosponsor of the Social Security Fairness Act in the Senate. Cassidy has been an original cosponsor of the Social Security Fairness Act since he became a Member of Congress in 2009. He reintroduced the legislation in the 117th and 116th Congress.\n\nBackground\n\nIn June, Cassidy entered a statement into the record urging the repeal of WEP and GPO ahead of the U.S. Senate Finance Subcommittee field hearing on Social Security. In July, Cassidy spoke on the U.S. Senate floor urging Congress to repeal WEP and GPO as part of his \u201cBig Idea\u201d to save, strengthen, and secure America\u2019s retirement system.\n\nCassidy led a bipartisan working group to preserve and protect Social Security. Last spring, he released the inaugural Bill on the Hill video where he asked Capitol Hill visitors from across the country their thoughts on the looming benefit cuts to Social Security and presented his \u201cBig Idea\u201d.\n\nIn March, Cassidy grilled U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on President Biden\u2019s plan to address Social Security, to which Secretary Yellen admitted \u201cthe president doesn\u2019t have a plan,\u201d to save Social Security.\n\nCassidy has discussed the \u201cBig Idea\u201d at a public forum with AARP on the future of Social Security, outlined his Social Security plan in a fireside chat with the Bipartisan Policy Committee, and authored op-eds in the National Review, Washington Examiner in October and in July, Wall Street Journal, State Affairs, Washington Post.\n\nCassidy\u2019s remarks as prepared for delivery are below:\n\nMadam President,\n\nBefore the Thanksgiving holiday, my colleagues and I voted late into the night.\n\nI\u2019d have no problem with this if we\u2019re voting on meaningful legislation.\n\nThat\u2019s not what we were been doing. We were voting on last-minute, lame duck Biden-Harris judicial nominees.\n\nYet we have serious legislation that will help millions of Americans that the House overwhelmingly passed in mid-November. They sent it over to the Senate, and it\u2019s waiting for a vote.\n\nI\u2019m speaking of the Social Security Fairness Act to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset\u2014or WEP and GPO.\n\nSocial Security is a sacred trust between generations.\n\nIt is a promise to workers that when they retire, they will not live in poverty.\n\nRight now, Social Security\u2019s future is in danger.\n\nAccording to the people who run this program, if Congress does nothing the Social Security trust fund will be busted in 9 years. Flat. Bankrupt.\n\nAnd there will be an automatic 20-24 percent cut in benefits for everyone receiving Social Security and for those who will receive it in the future.\n\nWe must save, strengthen, and secure the program and I have a plan to do so.\n\nOne thing we can\u2019t do is perpetuate unfairness that began decades ago.\n\nThis unfairness targets people who have dedicated their lives to serving our communities as state or local community workers, such as first responders and teachers.\n\nToday, we can take a step towards fairness.\n\nWe can repeal two unfair Social Security provisions with the Social Security Fairness Act today if the Majority Leader schedules a vote.\n\nWEP and GPO penalize families across the country who worked a public service job for part of their career with a separate pension.\n\nWe\u2019re talking about police officers, firefighters, teachers, and other public employees who are punished for serving their communities.\n\nSo how did we get here?\n\nWEP and GPO were introduced decades ago to address perceived inequalities in the Social Security system, but they have had the opposite effect of creating real tangible inequalities.\n\nWhen my police officers, firefighters, and teachers in Louisiana have second jobs, second careers, or get married, they are unfairly punished. They receive less from Social Security than if they had never worked in public service at all. That\u2019s not right.\n\nWEP reduces the earned Social Security benefits of individuals who also receive a pension from a non-Social Security-covered job. This has resulted in thousands of individuals who have paid into the system during their careers receiving a significantly reduced Social Security benefit when they hit retirement.\n\nGPO reduces earned Social Security spousal or survivor benefits for individuals who also receive a government pension. This provision can reduce or even eliminate the Social Security benefits that a spouse or widow might have expected and relied on. Public servant spouses would receive more if they had never worked at all.\n\nLouisiana has more first responders per capita than any other state in the nation and tens of thousands of teachers, meaning our state is disproportionally hurt by WEP and GPO.\n\nTime and time again I hear from constituents that they feel like they are being punished for serving their communities.\n\nAnd public servants across the country rightfully feel the exact same way.\n\nWEP and GPO affect Americans in every single state.\n\nThere is no excuse to treat our public servants this way.\n\nWEP and GPO should have never become law. But we have an opportunity to fix it.\n\nIn mid-November, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Social Security Fairness Act.\n\nAs a longtime original cosponsor of the Senate version, I have been waiting to proudly vote yes, and finally repeal WEP and GPO.\n\nInstead, day after day, Senate Democrats have focused their attention on ramming through partisan nominees rather than passing serious legislation.\n\nIf I sound frustrated, it is because I am.\n\nWe owe it to every public servant who has taught our children, protected our streets, ran into burning buildings, and more to get this passed.\n\nThe time for political theater is over! It is time to get serious and vote on legislation that matters.\n\nI am ready to vote yes on the Social Security Fairness Act and repeal WEP and GPO for Louisianans and Americans across the country.\n\nSo, I call on the Majority Leader to schedule a vote on the Social Security Fairness Act, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting it.\n\nWith that, I yield.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cassidy-calls-for-senate-vote-to-repeal-wep-gpo-quit-wasting-time-on-biden-harris-judicial-nominees/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1064521968364716, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}