House lawmakers in Washington have the signatures they need to force a vote on a bill to eliminate rules that reduce Social Security benefits for certain retirees who also receive pension income.
On Thursday morning, Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Garret Graves, R-La., marked the 206 signatures a discharge petition had thus far collected with a press conference outside the Capitol building alongside organizations representing police, firefighters, postal workers, teachers and other government employees often affected by those rules.
By Thursday afternoon, the number of signatures had climbed to 218, enough to force a vote on the bill.
The bipartisan bill — the Social Security Fairness Act — would repeal rules known as the Windfall Elimination Provision, or WEP, and the Government Pension Offset, or GPO, that currently reduce Social Security benefits for almost 3 million Americans.
"This is a situation where you have some of the most important occupations, some of the most important contributors to our community, that are being discriminated against," he said.
Persons:
Abigail Spanberger, Garret Graves, Graves
Organizations:
Social, Finance
Locations:
Washington
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