The Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE) is pleased to announce our support of HR 5342, the “Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act of 2023” (ETPSA), bipartisan legislation sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington (TX-19) to bring relief from the negative impact the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) continues to have on educators, police officers, firefighters, and other public employees. 

Rep. Arrington will hold a press conference at 4 p.m. CT Thursday, Sept. 7, at Lubbock Fire Station 19, 5826 98th St., Lubbock, Texas 79424, to discuss the ETPSA. He will be joined by ATPE members and other public servants who would be positively affected by the legislation. (For more information about the press conference, please contact Ron Kovach, ron.kovach@mail.house.gov or 806-224-5216.) 

Similar to ATPE-supported legislation introduced in the past several Congresses by now-retired Rep. Kevin Brady of The Woodlands, this legislation replaces the WEP with a new proportional formula that would increase Social Security payments for most retirees otherwise penalized by the WEP. Some retirees would see as much as a $400 or more per month increase in their Social Security benefit. This newest version of the ETPSA improves upon the previous bill by extending the “hold-harmless” provision to age 18 at the time of passage (versus 21 in the prior legislation). The new provision will ensure more retirees receive the better of the WEP or the new proportional formula, further protecting the very small percentage of retirees who would otherwise receive a slightly higher benefit under the current formula.  

“Our teachers, firefighters, and police officers shouldn’t have their Social Security checks docked each month on account of an incomplete and outdated formula from the 1980s that shortchanges our seniors,” Arrington says. “Every month Congress fails to fix this inequity, retirees and their dependents lose precious resources they need and have earned.” 

ATPE thanks Rep. Arrington and original co-sponsor Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (TX-34) for their consistent and unwavering support of active and retired educators. We are grateful to the other members of the Texas congressional delegation who have signed on as co-sponsors and urge their colleagues to follow suit. 

ATPE also supports and asks that members of the Texas delegation co-sponsor HR 4260, similar legislation to HR 5342, introduced by Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee, and HR 82, introduced by Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), which would fully repeal both the WEP and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and which has now garnered 289 co-sponsors.  

ATPE calls on all members of the U.S. House, regardless of party, to show their support for WEP and GPO reform and to underscore the need for a compromise solution. In such a closely divided Congress under tight budget constraints, the respective authors of these bills and the leadership of the two parties in the House and Senate will need to come together to pass legislation that finally brings relief to our retired public servants affected by these offsets. 

About the Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE)
Founded in 1980, ATPE is the leading educators’ association in Texas with approximately 90,000 members statewide. With its strong collaborative philosophy, ATPE speaks for classroom teachers, administrators, and future, retired, and para-educators and works to create better opportunities for Texas’ more than five million public school students. | atpe.org