Q: What is the status of the legislation regarding doing away with the
significant penalty the federal government retirees incur when becoming
eligible to draw, if any, Social Security benefits?
A: I assume that you are asking about the windfall elimination provision, which reduces the Social Security benefit of anyone receiving an annuity — in whole or part — from a retirement system where he didn’t pay Social Security taxes and has fewer than 30 years of substantial earnings covered by Social Security. The short answer is that bills to modify or repeal that provision have stalled in both houses of Congress.