Senate passes Social Security benefits boost for many public service retirees

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed legislation early Saturday to increase Social Security payments for millions of people, pushing a longtime priority for former public employees through Congress in one of its final acts of the year.

The bipartisan bill, which next goes to President Joe Biden, would eliminate longstanding cuts to Social Security benefits for nearly 3 million people who receive pensions from work in federal, state and local government or public service jobs such as teachers, firefighters and police officers. Advocates say the Social Security Fairness Act will right a decades-old inequality, though it will also put additional pressure on the Social Security Trust Funds.

The legislation has been decades in the making, but the push to pass it came together in recent weeks — and was finalized in the final hours — as lawmakers were in Washington before Congress adjourns next year. All but one Senate Democrat, as well as 23 Republicans, supported the push to bring it to a final Senate vote. The final vote was 76-20.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., called it “very important for our retired teachers and firefighters and postal workers and police officers and so many other public employees who deserve their full Social Security benefits.”

The bill repeals two provisions — the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset — that limit Social Security benefits for certain beneficiaries if they receive pension payments from other sources, such as the public pension program of a state or local government.

“Social Security is a foundation for our middle class. It’s retirement security that Americans pay into and earn over a lifetime,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat who has pushed for the proposal for years and will leave Congress after losing re-election.

He added that the current restrictions make “no sense. These workers serve the public. They protect our communities. They teach our children. They pay into Social Security just like everyone else.”

People who currently have reductions in their Social Security benefits under the exemptions will soon see a boost in their monthly payments. But those increased payments would also add an estimated $195 billion to federal deficits over 10 years, according to Congressional Budget Office.

Social Security Trust Funds was already projected to be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2035, and the change will advance the program’s insolvency date by about half a year. A typical two-income couple retiring in 2033 will see an additional $25,000 lifetime reduction in their benefits, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Many of the bill’s opponents acknowledged that the current reductions are not fair to public service retirees, but said they could not support the bill when the entire program faces challenges.

“We bowed to the pressure of the moment instead of doing this on a sustainable basis,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina who opposed the bill.

The policy changes will also put more work on the Social Security Administration when the agency is already at its lowest staffing level in 50 years. The agency currently has a staff of about 56,400 – the lowest level since 1972, according to an agency spokesman – although it serving more people than ever. The state aid bill, also considered late Friday, did not include increased funding for the agency, which is currently in a hiring freeze.

Still, Republican supporters of the bill said it was a rare opportunity to address what they described as an unfair piece of federal law that hurts public service retirees.

“They have earned these benefits. This is an unfair, unreasonable punishment,” said Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican.

GOP supporters of the bill also said they would return to work on major fixes to Social Security. However, President-elect Donald Trump has said he will not touch the benefits, even as his administration looks to make major budget cuts elsewhere.

Senate Republicans are nevertheless working on ideas that would put the program on a better financial footing, but also inevitably require a cut in benefits. A fiscal hawk, Sen. Rand Paul, pushed Friday for a proposal to gradually raise the Social Security retirement age to 70, although a vote to add that provision to the bill got just three votes for it.

“There is so much that needs to be done for us to get right and have the courage to fix Social Security over the next few years,” Tillis said. “We will rue the day we didn’t.”