Senate approves bill to extend Social Security to millions of Americans

Legislation to expand Social Security benefits to millions of Americans passed the US Senate early Saturday and is now headed to the desk of President Biden, who is expected to sign the measure into law.

Senators voted 76-20 in favor Social Security Fairness Actwhich would remove two federal policies that prevents nearly 3 million people, including police officers, firefighters, postal workers, teachers and others with a public pension, from collecting their full Social Security benefits. The legislation has been decades in the making since the Senate held its first hearings on the policies in 2003.

“The Senate is finally righting a 50-year wrong,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, exclaimed after senators approved the legislation at 8 p.m. 12:15 Saturday.

The bill’s passage is “a monumental victory for millions of public employees who have been denied the full benefits they have rightfully earned,” said Shannon Benton, executive director of the Senior Citizens League, which advocates for retirees and has long pushed on for the expansion of social benefits. “This legislation finally restores fairness to the system and ensures that the hard work of teachers, first responders and countless public servants is truly recognized.”

The vote came down to the wire as the Senate looked to end its current session. Senators rejected four amendments and a budgetary point of order late Friday night that would have derailed the measure given the little time left to pass it.

Vice President-elect JD Vance of Ohio was among the 24 Republican senators who joined 49 Democrats in advancing the measure in a preliminary procedural vote that took place Wednesday.

“Social Security is a foundation for our middle class. You pay into it for 40 quarters, you’ve earned it, it should be there when you retire,” said Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat who lost his seat at the election in November, before Wednesday’s vote. “All these workers ask is for what they have earned.”

What is the Social Security Fairness Act?

The Social Security Fairness Act would repeal two federal policies — the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) — that reduce Social Security payments to nearly 3 million retirees.

That includes those who also collect pensions from state and federal jobs not covered by Social Security, including teachers, police officers and U.S. postal workers. The bill would also end another provision that reduces Social Security benefits for the surviving spouses and family members of these workers. The WEP affects approx 2 million Social Security Beneficiaries and GPO almost 800,000 pensioners.

The measure, which passed the House in November, had 62 co-sponsors when it was introduced in the Senate last year. Still, the bill’s bipartisan support has eroded in recent days, with some Republican lawmakers expressing doubts about its cost. According to to Congressional Budget Office, the proposed legislation would add an estimated $195 billion to federal deficits over a decade.

Without Senate approval, the bill’s fate would have ended with the current session of Congress and would have had to be reintroduced in the next Congress.