There is good news for about 2.5 million retirees this holiday season: they may be getting more money from Social Security. This is because the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would get rid of two rules that limit the retirement benefits that teachers, nurses, firefighters, and other public sector workers can get.
The Act also has unusually strong support from both parties in the Senate, which makes it more likely that it will be signed into law.
Increase in Social Security benefits after new law is about to be passed
Politicians wrote an open letter to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell saying that these Americans are being punished for doing things like helping and protecting our families and neighbours, teaching our kids, taking care of our veterans, carrying our mail, and more.
The stolen benefits of these pensioners, which they have been owed for a long time and will never get back, should not be used to keep Social Security solvent in the short term.
The Senate is running out of time to act, so it is not clear if these seniors would get the extra money that this rule change might bring in. This bill, which was passed by the House, is called the Social Security Fairness Act, and it does two things:
- Repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)
- Repeals the Government Pension Offset (GPO)
It lowers your Social Security benefits if you worked for a company that gave you a pension or disability benefits but did not take Social Security taxes out of your pay. This is called the Windfall Elimination Provision.
The Government Pension Offset cuts your Social Security benefits if the federal, state, or local government gives you money for work you did but did not pay Social Security taxes on.
Because of these rules, many people who work for the government, like teachers, police officers, and firefighters, see their Social Security benefits go down if they work part-time in a job that the program covers. Even though they work for the government and pay into the system, their benefits are cut because of that.
Will this become law and impact Social Security benefits in the US?
Getting through the U.S. Senate would be the next step, since the House of Representatives already passed the Social Security Fairness Act. The bill needs 62 votes to pass in the Senate, but there are more co-sponsors than that. A lot of interest groups have been asking Congress to do something. A few days ago, Reps.
Garret Graves and Abigail Spanberger said that 62 senators from a wide range of parties had signed on. Building on this clear momentum, we urge the leadership of the Senate to vote on our bipartisan effort and give Americans who deserve it the security they need in retirement.
On November 19, the House sent the bill to the Senate. However, since the legislative session is coming to an end, it is not clear if there will be time for a vote. Many more Social Security benefits would be given out because of the law.
This has led to concerns that the trust fund for Social Security may run out of money faster than expected. Some reports say that a number of Republican senators may be changing their minds, especially after seeing how much it will cost. Representative Chuck Schumer’s spokesman told USA TODAY that finishing the bill this year is very important.
Furthermore, as Spanberger pointed out, public employees should not have to carry most of the burden by receiving smaller benefits than they are entitled to.
The long-term viability of the Social Security benefits program is a different issue that needs to be addressed. It is still not clear if this argument will work or if Congress will make passing this law a top priority.
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