Biden Signs Social Security Fairness Act, Improving Benefits for Police, Public Sector

By Matthew Medsger

Source Boston Herald

Millions of Americans will see a bump in the social security payments after President Joe Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act into law on Sunday.

Biden, joined at the White House by advocates and lawmakers, said the new law rights a long-standing disparity between the benefits seen by most social security recipients and those received by public sector employees like teachers, firefighters, and police officers.

“The bill I’m signing today is about a simple proposition. Americans who have worked hard all of their lives to earn an honest living should be able to retire with economic security and dignity,” he said. “That’s the entire purpose of the Social Security system crafted by Franklin Delano Roosevelt nearly 90 years ago.”

The bill signed this Sunday ends a pair of provisions — the Windfall Elimination Provision created in 1983 and the Government Pension Offset devised in 1977 — that curtail the social security benefits of some U.S. retirees receiving retirement benefits from another source, such as a local government or state funded pension.

According to a report released by the Congressional Research Service, as of December 2023, “about 2.1 million people (or about 3% of all Social Security beneficiaries) were affected by the WEP” and “745,679 Social Security beneficiaries, or about 1% of all beneficiaries, had their benefits reduced by the GPO.” More than 70 million Americans are currently receiving Social Security benefits, according to the Social Security Administration.

Biden said those laws denied millions of Americans and their surviving spouses full access to the “benefits that they earned, by thousands of dollars per year.”

After Biden signed the new law onto the books, the International Association of Fire Fighters called it a “historic moment,” noting the provisions the president erased “unfairly penalized retired public service workers.”

“Congress broke a promise 40 years ago to millions of Americans when it enacted the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset. Today, that promise has been restored, and retired fire fighters and emergency medical workers will now receive the full Social Security benefits they’ve earned and paid into,” IAFF General President Edward Kelly said in a statement.

Biden thanked Maine Sen. Susan Collins for her work on the bill, which she said in a statement is the result of more than 20 years of advocacy.

“With the Social Security Fairness Act now signed into law, fire fighters, emergency medical service professionals, and their families can rest assured that the retirement benefits they have earned through years of dedicated service to their communities will no longer be unfairly reduced,” she said. “After more than two decades of working to address the unfairness of the WEP and the GPO, I am proud to see these provisions finally repealed.”

According to estimates provided by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, eliminating the Windfall Elimination Provision will boost payments for affected retirees by an average of $360 per month by December of 2025, while ending the Government Pension Offset could increase impacted retiree benefits by $700 per month or more.

The change in benefits is backdated to January of 2024, meaning many of the affected social security beneficiaries will be due back-dated payments. Biden said over 2.5 million recipients will receive that money as a lump sum, but did not say how or when the money would pay out.

Biden said the change in benefits will be a “big deal” to middle class families relying on social security to make ends meet in their retirement.

“As the first president in more than 20 years to expand social security benefits, this victory is the culmination of a four-year fight to provide security for workers who dedicate their lives to their communities, and I’m proud to have played a small part in this fight,” Biden said.

Herald wire services contributed.

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