A new bill has been introduced, and passed, to the House of Representatives which could help millions of Social Security beneficiaries get a higher amount every month. This is the Social Security Fairness Act, which passed with bipartisan support and is now headed to the Senate to, hopefully, be approved as well.
The Social Security Fairness Act
This bill, introduced by House sponsors, Virginia Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Louisiana Republican Garret Graves, aims to repeal two federal policies that currently limit Social Security payouts for around 2.8 million Americans who work in federal, state and local jobs.
As they explained in a joint statement, “By passing the Social Security Fairness Act, a bipartisan majority of the U.S. House of Representatives showed up for the millions of Americans — police officers, teachers, firefighters, and other local and state public servants — who worked a second job to make ends meet or began a second career to support their families after retiring from public service. A bipartisan majority of the U.S. House voted to provide a secure retirement to the hundreds of thousands of spouses, widows, and widowers who are denied their spouses’ benefits simply because they chose careers of service.”
What provisions did it repeal? the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO).
According to the SSA, the WEP is “a formula used to adjust Social Security worker benefits for people who receive “non-covered pensions” and qualify for Social Security benefits based on other Social Security–covered earnings. A non-covered pension is a pension paid by an employer that does not withhold Social Security taxes from your salary, typically, state and local governments or non-U.S. employer.” This provision currently affects approximately 2 million beneficiaries.
The GPO “adjusts Social Security spousal or widow(er) benefits for people who receive “non-covered pensions.”” This rule impacts nearly 800,000 retirees.
By repealing the bill it would allow to:
- Repeal provisions that reduce Social Security benefits for individuals who receive other benefits, such as a pension from a state or local government.
- Eliminate the government pension offset, which can reduce Social Security benefits for spouses, widows, and widowers who also receive government pensions of their own.
- Eliminate the windfall elimination provision, which in some instances reduces Social Security benefits for individuals who also receive a pension or disability benefit from an employer that did not withhold Social Security taxes.
All of these provisions would help average Americans make ends meet as it would raise benefits for those who are currently subject to the WEP and GPO. The bad news is that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, implementing this bill would add $195 billion to federal deficits over 10 years, contributing to the shortfall of Social Security even more.
Regardless, as Graves explains “This has been 40 years of treating people differently, discriminating against a certain set of workers. They’re not people that are overpaid; they’re not people that are underworked,” he said.
Despite the House win, the bill still has long to go, as it has not been put up to a vote in the Senate and the president would still have to sign it into law, but efforts are being made so that it can pass with the minimum possible disturbance.
Spanberger and Graves, along with Senate sponsors, Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Susan Collins, made their case to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for them to put the bill up for a vote. Their impassionate plea read that Americans who are subject to the provisions “are being punished for supporting and protecting our neighbors and families, educating our children, providing healthcare to our Veterans, delivering our mail, and more.”