Email OR Call Script to your legislative representative concerning repealing WEP.
To contact your Members of Congress, follow these steps:
- Click here and enter the address where you last lived in the U.S.
- It will then display your two Senators and your House Representative.
- Check here for the House and here for the Senate if any of your Members of Congress have already co-sponsored the bill.
- If your Members of Congress have not yet co-sponsored the bill, write or call (better yet, do both!) and ask them to co-sponsor the bill and to vote to pass the bill when it comes up for a vote. Be sure to ask your House Representative to co-sponsor bill number H.R. 82 and your Senators to co-sponsor S. 1302.
- Email [email protected] and say "DONE" in the subject line to let us know that you contacted your Members of Congress.
- Optional: If they have already co-sponsored, write or call to thank them for their support!
Email:
Subject line: Need your support to repeal Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)
Dear Senator (Congressperson) _________,
I am respectfully asking for your committed support in passing H.R. 82/S.1302 Social Security Fairness Act of 2021.
My name is_________, I am a U.S. citizen who lives in (Country of Residence) and I vote in your district in (U.S. town and state you vote). My Social Security benefits earned from my prior work history in the United States are being/will be unfairly reduced due to the Windfall Elimination Provision or WEP by the Social Security Amendments of 1983.
As I am sure you are aware, WEP applies to most people who receive both a pension from non-covered work (including certain foreign pensions) and Social Security benefits based on fewer than 30 years of substantial earnings in SS covered employment or self-employment.
- Many retired Americans who live, or once lived abroad, have paid into Social Security. But they do not receive their full benefits or fair share of them from Social Security when they retire.
- WEP was meant to eliminate the advantage some workers received from overlapping full-retirement pensions supplemented by partial Social Security-covered employment. This is not the case with many people affected by WEP.
- Also, some beneficiaries only learn of WEP after they have retired, and the reduced benefits substantially affect their and their family’s financial standing in later years.
- I am (will be) personally affected by these deductions (describe in what way), so this issue an important voting consideration for me when I vote by absentee ballot.
The problem that WEP was meant to resolve didn’t consider, in a fair and equitable way, the impact on overseas retirees. I ask for your support in finding a fair solution for all.
I hope that you can assure me that these bills will reach the floor for vote in this legislative session. Please commit and give your urgent support in helping to pass HR 82/S.1302 Social Security Fairness Act.
Respectfully,
(name of sender)
Voter in (Name your town again)
****Change wording if your Representative or Senator has already committed to supporting H.R. 82 & S. 1302 thanking them for their already promised support.
Call Script for passing HR 82/S.1302 Social Security Fairness Act of 2021 -- WEP Repeal
Hello, I am a constituent who votes in [CITY/TOWN, STATE], but I am currently residing in and calling from [CITY, COUNTRY]. I was hoping to speak to the Senator/Representative or their staffer about the repeal of the Social Security Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) that impacts your constituents like me who live outside the United States.
WEP applies to most people who receive both a pension from non-covered work (including certain foreign pensions) and Social Security benefits based on fewer than 30 years of substantial covered employment or self-employment earnings. Spousal Social Security benefits are also unfairly eliminated due to WEP, making my family’s long-term financial stability more worrying.
The rules for WEP and the calculation for the deduction are complicated. This leaves many retirees in the dark until they get the bad news that their paid-for benefits are being cut. Adding to this, the complexity of the Foreign Equalization Treaties and taxation of passive investing income affecting U.S. citizens abroad hinders us from properly preparing for our retirement. Sometimes we can not even open a retirement account inside or outside the States for various reasons.
If your rep supports these bills: I want to thank the Congress(wo)man for promising to support H.R. 82/S.1302 Social Security Fairness act of 2021. I/My family relies on the security that my previously paid-in contributions provide for a secure future in my retired years.
If your rep does not support these bills: I was incredibly disappointed to see that Congress(wo)man_____ has not committed to supporting H.R. 82/S.1302 Social Security Fairness Act of 2021, which would provide more fairness to the Social Security program and security for retired senior constituents in our district.
Most of the urgent need for WEP repeal has been focused on and sympathizing with retired public servants and teachers at home, even with their prior knowledge about WEP deductions on their future Social Security because of their non-covered pensions.
Americans living abroad often have worked part of their careers within the U.S. contributing to Social Security. Later, we entered the confusing and complicated environment of preparing for retirement while living abroad.
I am an ordinary US citizen. I moved to [Country] to [be with my partner/family/to take a job/other]. I am not wealthy. The complexity of investing for retirement due to double taxation of mutual funds and the unwillingness of banks in and outside the U.S. allowing pre-retirees to hold accounts and contribute to new investments, has left my pension funds lacking.
The current WEP law is punishing and unfair. Can we expect to see the congress(wo)man endorse H.R./82/S.1302 Social Security Fairness act of 2021?
I am (will be) personally affected by these WEP deductions, so this issue an important voting consideration for me, when I vote by absentee ballot. I hope that you can assure me that these bills will reach the floor for vote in this legislative session because American retirees living abroad are counting on you.
Thank you for your time listening to my concerns.