This week, I joined Rep. Jodey Arrington (TX-19) in introducing the Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act, bipartisan legislation to ensure public servants subject to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) receive their fair share of Social Security benefits in retirement. Millions of teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other public servants are losing benefits they worked hard to earn because of an outdated, overly complex, and unfair formula used by the Social Security Administration. The Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act updated Social Security’s formula in order to fully compensates our teachers, firefighters, and police officers for the time they worked in the private sector and the taxes they paid into the system.

More than 200,000 Texas retired public educators and more than 2 million public servants nationwide are negatively affected by the unfair and arbitrary Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), which reduces their earned Social Security benefits.

As public servants, we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to those who dedicate their lives to educating our youth, safeguarding our communities, and providing essential services that keep our nation running smoothly. It is our moral obligation to ensure that these dedicated individuals are rewarded not only during their active years of service but also in their retirement. For three decades, they have been stuck in a one-size-fits-all approach to calculate their earned Social Security benefits.

This has been an issue we have dealt with Congress after Congress. I am hopeful that we can move the ball forward this Congress and pass a bill to ensure public servants and their families receive their full retirement benefits they deserve and have earned.

Background: 

• The WEP was designed by Congress in 1983 to calculate benefits for workers with both Social Security-covered earnings and earnings not subject to Social Security taxes. However, the current method does not accurately account for the entire length of a worker’s work history.

• The Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act addresses these shortcomings by replacing the WEP with a new formula that reflects an individual’s actual work history; creating a transition period for current workers; and providing relief to retirees subject to WEP.

President Biden and Extreme Democrats' Far Left open border policies have created the worst border crisis on record. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, there were 183,503 illegal immigrants encountered at our Southern Border in July, a 27% increase from June. Last month, at least 91,000 migrants who crossed with their families were arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol. 

The crisis at our southern border is out of control. Even the Mayor of New York City has finally realized that. This week, he said that any plan that does not include stopping the flow at the border is a failed plan. Liberal Democrats are finally accepting the reality that the Biden Border Crisis is hurting the country. 

While New York Democrats complain that it's unfair for Biden's open-border crisis to be New York's problem, they've taken no action to solve it. Every congressional Democrat voted against H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act. If enacted into law, this border security bill would immediately restart construction on the wall and hire more border patrol agents to stop the flow that has created the crisis throughout the country.

Instead, Mayor Adams is begging the Democrat Governor of New York to take people from NYC and bus them into the suburban and rural counties that surround the city.

How do you think Texas feels? 

Since President Biden took office...Texas has had no choice but to step up and protect our border because the federal government won't. This week, a federal judge issued an injunction against the State of Texas, ordering the removal of 1,000 feet of river buoy barriers in the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, TX, by September 15th. So the Biden Administration has literally gone to court to open the southern border. And then today...there have been reports that the Biden Administration is considering not securing the southern border but forcing Texas to keep migrants in the state as the crisis spirals out of control in so-called "sanctuary cities." We've gone from a "Remain in Mexico" border policy to a "Remain in Texas" stipulation under the Biden Administration. This is outrageous!

Team Weber attended the quarterly Lower Brazos River Coalition luncheon, with guest speakers Jake Hollingsworth of the Gulf Coast Water Authority and Michael Turco, on the importance of water conservation and planning. Then, they attended the Galveston Island Pachyderm Club, the Bridge City Chamber of Commerce, and the Friendswood Chamber of Commerce to get an update on what they are working on in our community. 

Legislation cosponsored:

• H.R. 5342 - Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act of 2023
• H.J.Res. 88 - Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Education relating to "Improving Income Driven Repayment for the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program and the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program".

It is a privilege to represent our district in Congress.  While we’ve faced many challenges in recent years, through strength and prayer, we have persevered. 

Please know that we are always a resource for you.  Call or stop by any of the offices (YOUR offices, we work for you), whenever you need assistance or want to talk about an issue before Congress.

For assistance or more information, please call or go online to visit us at weber.house.gov.

God Bless you and God Bless Texas!