November 26, 2024

The Honorable Charles E. Schumer                     The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Majority Leader                                                         Minority Leader
United States Senate                                              United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510                                          Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Majority Leader Schumer and Minority Leader McConnell:

On behalf of the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO), representing over 250,000 sworn law enforcement officers across the country, we write to urge you to bring the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R.82) to the floor for a vote before Congress adjourns in December. The Social Security Fairness Act is the only legislation that can fix a long-standing wrong that has put millions of our nation’s retired public servants in financial insecurity.

Th Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) have a significant detrimental impact on our nation’s public servants’ Social Security retirement benefits. For over 40 years, the GPO and WEP have been harming the retirement security of public safety officers by taking away hard-earned, and much needed benefits simply because they chose a public service profession that mandates early retirement.

While initially meant as a “leveling” response, in recent years the GPO and WEP have been used to prolong the life of the Social Security Trust Fund on the backs of our nation’s public servants, who have been experiencing across the board cuts to their hard-earned retirement benefits. Our public safety officers, who selflessly serve and protect our communities, deserve their rightfully earned Social Security benefits. 

The House passed H.R. 82 on November 12 by an overwhelming vote of 327-75. This bill, which has 61 bipartisan cosponsors in the Senate, has the support necessary to pass Congress by a vast majority if those who state they support this bill and our nation’s public servants hold true and continue to stand with us.

We are urging you to come together and find a way to give this legislation its due consideration and bring it to the floor for a vote.

Sincerely,

William J. Johnson, Esq.
Executive Director