Alexandria, VA—The Association of
American Educators (AAE), a non-union professional educator
organization, has announced their support of the Social Security
Fairness Act, HR 82, which would repeal the Windfall Elimination
Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). AAE has sent
letters to key members of Congress asking for their support of this
important legislation. Click here to read the letter.
“This bill is necessary to ensure that
our teachers are receiving all the benefits that are due them,”
said Gary Beckner, AAE executive director. “Teachers give of
themselves daily and should not be shortchanged at retirement.”
Under current federal law, public employees,
including teachers, are not eligible to receive the same Social
Security benefits as other workers. The WEP affects employees who do
not pay into Social Security, and the GPO affects spousal benefits.
“These provisions were put into place
to protect against people receiving benefits they had not
earned,” said Beckner. “The simple fact is that teachers
are getting cheated out of benefits after they retire, and the system
needs to be corrected.”
HR 82 is currently under consideration in
the Subcommittee on Social Security in the House Ways and Means
Committee. Its companion bill in the Senate, S. 206, has been referred
to the Committee on Finance.
The Association of American Educators is the
largest national, non-union, professional educators’ association.
AAE seeks to increase the respect and professionalism of teachers, to
improve public education through increased accountability and higher
student achievement, and to provide educators with a professional
alternative to teacher labor unions. AAE believes that teacher labor
unions no longer meet the needs of today’s educators. www.aaeteachers.org
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