Senate approves bill to extend Social Security to millions of Americans

Nearly 3 million Americans will receive full Social Security benefits under legislation passed in the waning hours of the current Congress and now headed to President Biden, who is expected to sign the 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.

Congressional passage came down to the wire. After gaining bipartisan approval in the U.S. House in November, Senate approval came shortly after midnight, just ahead of a continuing resolution to keep Gov. from shutting down. The votes marked the last to be cast by senators in the 118th Congress before the next Congress is sworn in on January 3.

“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 election in November, chamber on Wednesday ahead of one of several votes to advance the bill. “All these workers ask is for what they have earned.”

Senators rejected four amendments and a budgetary point of order that would have derailed the measure given the short time left to pass it.

Republicans who spoke against the bill largely objected to its cost, noting that the measure would hasten by about six months the expected insolvency of the Social Security trust fund, which is now estimated to be about a decade away. Senate supporters of the bill, including Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy, argued that while Social Security’s funding shortfall needs to be addressed, it should not come at the expense of retirees with public pensions.

When does the Social Security Fairness Act come into force

Once signed into law, the legislation’s effective date involves Social Security payments for months after December 2023, according to text of the bill.

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.”

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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