Lubbock Times

House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington (TX-19) has urged his fellow lawmakers to pass the Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act (H.R. 5342), which he introduced. This legislation aims to ensure that public servants, including teachers, firefighters, and police officers affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), receive their rightful Social Security benefits upon retirement.

Arrington addressed the House floor, emphasizing the need for reform: "I’m asking my colleagues to do the right thing, address this inequity with WEP and our public servants, but do it the right way so that we don’t compromise the integrity and fiscal responsibility of managing the trust funds," said Chairman Arrington. "This is a complex issue, but what’s not complicated is people who have been shortchanged need to get the money that they rightfully are owed by their government – my bill will do it in a responsible way."

The WEP was initially designed by Congress in 1983 to calculate benefits for workers with earnings both covered and not covered by Social Security taxes. However, its current method does not accurately reflect an individual's full work history. The proposed act seeks to address these issues by replacing WEP with a formula based on actual work history, introducing a transition period for current workers, and providing relief to retirees affected by WEP.

Rep. Arrington has supported this initiative since joining Congress as an original cosponsor when Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) introduced it in previous sessions.