Social Security Fairness Act: Congress to Vote on $2.8M Benefit Increase for Public Servants

According to Newsweek, Congress is poised to vote on a significant bill that could increase Social Security benefits for millions of Americans. Next month, U.S. Representatives Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat from Virginia, and Garret Graves, a Republican from Louisiana, will introduce a petition to force a vote on the Social Security Fairness Act. This proposed legislation aims to eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), both of which currently reduce Social Security benefits for many public servants.

The WEP and GPO have long been criticized for unfairly lowering Social Security benefits for millions of Americans, including teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other public servants. The bill, which already has 325 cosponsors, requires just 218 signatures to force a vote on the House floor.

Spanberger and Graves emphasized the importance of this legislation in a joint statement, saying, “For more than 40 years, millions of Americans—police officers, teachers, firefighters, and other local and state public servants—have been stripped of their Social Security benefits as an unjust penalty for devoting much of their careers to serving their communities and fellow Americans. These Virginians, Louisianans, and Americans across our country deserve their full retirement benefits—just like every other American who has paid into Social Security.”

They continued, “For years, we have worked together to build bipartisan support for this effort and urge House Leadership to take real action to right this wrong. As those efforts have stalled, we are using every tool at our disposal to finally get this done.”

The Social Security Fairness Act, if passed, would remove the penalties imposed by the WEP and GPO. The WEP currently reduces Social Security benefits for individuals who receive a public pension from a job not covered by Social Security, such as teachers who also work part-time jobs. The GPO, on the other hand, reduces spousal benefits for government employees whose jobs are not covered by Social Security, potentially cutting benefits by two-thirds for surviving spouses who also collect a government pension.

Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin, highlighted the potential impact of this bill, stating, “Those receiving Social Security benefits are at the forefront of many new bills and proposals and with good reason. There are plenty of potential revisions that could greatly assist individuals and families who could be receiving increased funding in a time when most of them desperately need it. This bill looks to reform WEP and GPO, two features that reduce Social Security benefits for some state and federal employees in different jobs in various states.”

The WEP and GPO currently affect approximately 2.8 million Social Security recipients. For these individuals, Beene said the passage of this law would be a “game changer,” adding, “In these times where every dollar counts, a boost to Social Security benefits would be an extra layer of financial security many are doing without all because of a decades-old procedure.”

The funding for Social Security has been a topic of concern for many years, with the most recent Trustees report indicating that the government may run out of funds for full payments by 2033. Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley has previously stated, “Social Security will, if Congress doesn’t act, face a 17 percent benefit shortfall for all of our beneficiaries currently in payment status. The good news is this is a solvable problem.”

The upcoming vote on the Social Security Fairness Act could be a critical step toward addressing these issues and providing much-needed financial relief to millions of Americans.