The Social Security Fairness Act is now in the hands of the Senate. Here’s what might happen next.

Efforts to get the Senate to vote on a bill to expand Social Security benefits intensify as the House passed Social Security Fairness Act enjoys rare bipartisan support but has only a short time – six weeks – to pass.

“We’re cautiously optimistic,” said Shannon Benton, executive director of The Senior Citizens League, or TSCL, an advocacy group dedicated to protecting retirement benefits. “There’s so much momentum, if it’s not passed now, a lot of people will lose hope.”

Decades in the making, the legislation would eliminate a provision that reduces Social Security payments to some retirees who also collect pensions from jobs not covered by the pension program, such as state and federal workers, including teachers, police officers and U.S. Postal Service workers. It would also end another provision that reduces Social Security benefits for the surviving spouses and family members of these workers.

Various forms of the measure have been introduced over the years, but like many bills, they had not passed.

“I’ve been in the league for 25 years and I don’t remember ever having a version,” Benton said.

Introduced by Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Garret Graves, R-La., the bill passed the House by a vote of 327-75 late Tuesday night, after a last-ditch effort to derail it by members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus failed .

The WEP affects approx 2 million Social Security Beneficiaries and GPO almost 800,000 pensioners.

What Happens Next to the Social Security Fairness Act?

Despite having 62 co-sponsors in the Senate, the bill still needs to be brought up for a vote by the House leadership, and soon.

The bill “will die on Dec. 31, at the end of the second session of Congress,” Benton said. “Not only would this bill have to start from scratch, but a new person would have to introduce it.”

The Republican and Democratic lawmakers who introduced the measures in their respective bodies either did not run for re-election or lost their re-election, as was the case of Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat who introduced the bill in the Senate.

If the Social Security Fairness Act comes up for a vote in the Senate, it is expected to pass, having already secured 62 co-sponsors — surpassing the majority needed to send it to President Joe Biden for his signature.

If signed into law, the changes will take effect for benefits payable after December 2023.

What does the Social Security Fairness Act do?

The legislation would cut two provisions that limit pension payments to public employees and their surviving spouses and family members, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), which Spanberger and Graves argue amount to theft of these workers’ benefits.

“For more than 40 years, Social Security funds have been artificially propped up by stolen benefits that millions of Americans have paid for and that their families deserve,” they said in a Nov. 13. declaration.

As it stands, the WEP reduces Social Security benefits for workers who also receive a public pension from a job not covered by Social Security. For example, it would include teachers who do not earn Social Security through their public school positions, but who work part-time or in the summer in jobs covered by Social Security, even if they pay into the system over enough quarters to qualify.

The GPO affects spousal benefits for people who work for federal, state or local governments — including police officers, firefighters and teachers — if the job is not covered by Social Security. The GPO cuts two-thirds of the benefit received by surviving spouses who also collect a public pension, often completely offsetting the benefits.

For example, under the GPO, someone who receives a $900 spousal benefit from Social Security but also has a $1,000 non-covered pension would see their Social Security benefit reduced by $667. That would leave them with a remaining spousal benefit of $233 from Social Security.

Under the Social Security Fairness Act, the same person would receive the full $900 spousal benefit.

“Workers should be able to count on the retirement benefits they’ve earned,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, an original co-sponsor of the bill. “It’s time to pass the Social Security Fairness Act so that government employees and their families and people with disabilities are not penalized for earning multiple sources of retirement income.”

What are the chances of the Social Security Fairness Act passing?

The main opposition to the bill is its cost. The Congressional Budget Office estimates it will cost up to 190 billion dollars over a decade.

“It would accelerate the combined trust fund shortfall by six months to a year when it’s already in trouble,” said Benton, who said TSCL supports Social Security reform to address its projected insolvency in 2033 to 2034.

“The long-term solvency of Social Security is an issue that Congress needs to address — but one that is entirely separate from allowing Virginians, Louisianans and Americans across our country who did their part and contributed their earnings to retire with dignity,” Graves and Spanberger said in their joint statement.