The Senate passed legislation last week to boost Social Security payments for millions of people, pushing a longtime priority for former public employees through Congress in one of its last acts for the year.
The bipartisan bill, which next heads to President Joe Biden on Monday, eliminates longtime reductions to Social Security benefits for nearly 3 million people who receive pensions from work in federal, state and local government, or public service jobs like teachers, firefighters and police officers. Advocates say the Social Security Fairness Act rights a decades-old disparity, though it will also put further strain on Social Security Trust Funds.
The legislation has been decades in the making but the push to pass it came together in the final weeks—and was completed in the final minutes—that lawmakers were in Washington before Congress resets next year. All Senate Democrats, as well as 27 Republicans, voted for the bill, giving it a final tally of 76-20.
“Millions of retired teachers and firefighters and letter carriers and state and local workers have waited decades for this moment. No longer will public retirees see their hard-earned Social Security benefits robbed from them,” says Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
The bill repeals two provisions—the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset—that limit Social Security benefits for certain recipients if they receive retirement payments from other sources such as the public retirement program for a state or local government.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated since original publication to reflect the latest on the subject.
