Kay Bailey Hutchison

Imagine sitting around the kitchen table with your spouse, planning for a well-deserved retirement, only to learn that your monthly Social Security benefits will be hundreds of dollars less than expected.

Unfortunately, this nightmare is experienced by many of our state’s teachers, police officers, firefighters and other public servants due to a bureaucratic rule that causes Social Security to report erroneous projected benefits and arbitrarily reduce their benefits. To prevent this, I have introduced legislation that protects the retirement savings of our hardest working public servants and ensures that they are not caught off guard by unfair regulations.

Instead of paying into the Social Security system, many state employees and public servants contribute to a non-Social Security plan such as the Teacher Retirement System of Texas or a firefighters’ pension fund. When they retire, they receive benefits from these plans rather than from Social Security.

But difficulty can arise for Texans who spend part of their career as public servants not eligible for Social Security, and another part of their career in a Social Security-covered job. When the Social Security Administration (SSA) attempts to estimate future benefits for a person with this type of career history, it does not know that they will be receiving pension payments from a public sector retirement plan.

As a result, the SSA over-estimates the monthly amount this person is eligible to receive in Social Security benefits, and passes the incorrect estimate on to them to use when planning for their retirement. It is only when these retirees actually apply for benefits that the SSA “corrects” its mistake and reduces the amount of their monthly Social Security check using a rule called the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP).

After many years of saving, planning and trusting that the government will provide what it promised, too many Texans affected by the WEP are left holding the bag. The amount that a person’s Social Security is reduced due to the WEP is arbitrarily decided by the SSA and may not properly reflect the amount of Social Security the person has earned.

And, contrary to its original purpose, the WEP tends to have the most negative impact on people with lower incomes.

U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady and I have introduced the Public Servant Retirement Protection Act of 2007 to amend the WEP and ensure that Texas’ public servants are not undermined by discriminatory Social Security formulas. Estimated benefits statements produced by the SSA should not mislead Texans about the amount they have paid into the Social Security system, and the amount they can realistically expect to receive in return.

Millions of Texans depend on it in their retirement years, and trust the federal government to give them accurate information about their benefits. I am committed to keeping our promises to today’s seniors and the hard-working Americans who will rely on this safety net in the future. Social Security reform is long overdue, and I will continue to work toward a lasting, bipartisan and comprehensive solution.

Kay Bailey Hutchinson is the senior senator from the state of Texas. Contact her local offices at 145 Duncan Drive, Suite 120, San Antonio, Texas 78226 or by telephone at 340-2885.