Washington, DC - Patrick Yoes, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, said he believed that H.R. 82, the “Social Security Fairness Act,” would be passed into law today following the 73-27 vote to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the bill’s consideration. 

“The passage of the Social Security Fairness Act is long overdue and we are close to ending this injustice and providing relief to the millions of Americans who have been unfairly denied benefits they earned through their work,” Yoes said. 

The legislation, which would repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) in current Social Security law, passed the House last month on an overwhelming 327-75 vote, with a majority of both the Republican Conference and Democratic Caucus supporting the bill. 

“This is truly a bipartisan effort,” Yoes said.  “We’re immensely grateful for the support of President-elect Trump on this legislation and his continued support for America’s law enforcement officers, and we are also grateful to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has always been a great friend to organized labor.”

National President Yoes also thanked the Senators from both parties who voted in favor of cloture and urged them to “stay the course” by supporting the bill on any procedural vote and against all amendments.

“We need to recognize that if this scheme was being run by a pension board or private money management group instead of the Social Security Administration, they would not call it an elimination of a windfall or an offset—it would be considered embezzlement,” Yoes said.  “Let’s finish the work and get this bill to the President.”