Sen. Sherrod Brown Holds Field Hearing on Protecting Public Workers’ Social Security Benefits

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown has spent several years trying to repeal two federal provisions that reduce retirement income for many public servants. Friday, he held a Congressional subcommittee field hearing in Columbus to discuss the issue.

In many cases, public sector workers — police, firefighters, teachers and school support staff — don’t pay in to the Social Security system. The idea is their pension programs take the place of the federal retirement program. But in practice, many of those employees work in the private sector as well.

Carl Jordan from the Ohio Association of Professional Firefighters said “I was always taught by my parents, that if I worked hard, kept my nose clean, good thing would happen for me. I can see now that that was not always the case, as the benefits I should have received from Social Security have been reduced by approximately 25%”

According to Brown’s office, nearly 3 million beneficiaries have seen their social security checks reduced because of the law. More than 270,000 of them come from Ohio. “The people it effects are not powerful special interests,” Brown said. “They’re local cops they’re local sheriff’s deputies, they’re firefighters, they’re teachers, they’re bus drivers, they pick up our trash, they plow our roads. Punishing public service by cutting Social Security they earned in other jobs is not a good way to recruit and retain workers — makes no sense.”

Read the Ohio Capital Journal article here