House introduces bill to expand Social Security benefits. Here’s what you need to know.

Social Security pegs its 2025 cost-of-living increase at 2.5%

The House is expected to try to pass a Social Security bill this week to ensure benefits for workers who are also eligible for other pensions, despite a surprise move by hard-right Freedom Caucus leaders to derail the effort.

It’s a quick turnaround to save what had been a bipartisan effort to pass the bill, called Social Security Fairness Actin what is now Congress’s limping post-election period.

What is the Social Security Fairness Act?

The Social Security Fairness Act would repeal the so-called “public pension equalization,” or GPO, which reduces Social Security spousal or widow benefits for those receiving non-covered pensions, according to the Social Security Administration’s website.

The summary also says the bill also eliminates the so-called “unexpected elimination provision” that “in some cases reduces Social Security benefits for individuals who also receive a pension or disability benefit from an employer that did not withhold Social Security taxes.”

Such pensions are paid by employers — typically state and local governments or non-U.S. employers — who do not withhold Social Security taxes from employees’ wages.

“The GPO reduces the spousal or widow’s benefit by two-thirds of the monthly non-covered pension and may partially or fully offset a person’s spousal/widow/widower’s benefit, depending on the amount of the non-covered pension. pension,” according to the SSA .gov.

The bill would repeal the GPO provision and reinstate full Social Security benefits.

For example, under the GPO, a person with a $900 Social Security spousal benefit who also has a $1,000 noncovered pension would see their Social Security benefit reduced by $667, or two-thirds of the noncovered pension amount. That leaves them with a residual spousal benefit of $233.

If the GPO measure is repealed, the same person would be entitled to the full $900 spousal benefit amount without an offset reduction.

Does the bill have bipartisan support?

Yes, the bill was introduced by a Republican, Rep. Garrett Graves of Louisiana, and a Democrat, Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, and it has won support in the House. A robust 300 lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, have signed onto it.

Other groups have also supported the bill, such as the National Association of Counties, which represents county governments. That group says that eliminating the GPO would help county governments recruit workers at a time when many are facing labor shortages.

What happened next to the bill?

To force the legislation through, the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Graves and Rep. Spanberger, in the fall a rarely successful process called a discharge petition.

They collected the minimum 218 signatures needed from House lawmakers to remove the bill from committee and send it to the floor for a vote.

The move is often seen as an affront to House leaders, especially the House Speaker and Majority Leader, who set the schedule.

But Spanberger and Graves — both of whom did not seek re-election — had little to lose. Also, Johnson supported the bill before he became speaker.

Did House Freedom Caucus Block Social Security Bill?

Two leaders of the conservative House Freedom Caucus intervened as the rest of Congress was away from Capitol Hill, mostly in the home states for Election Day.

Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., and former chairman Rep. Bob Goode, R-Va., used a routine pro forma session of the House on Nov. 5 to quickly introduce part of the measure.

The Freedom Caucus tends to block new spending. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would add about $196 billion to the federal deficit over a decade.

Graves said that’s the amount people are missing out on without reinstating full Social Security benefits.

However, by introducing the legislation, the Conservatives effectively reinstated its procedural rule, but not the bill itself.

The legislation is expected to move forward with a vote in the House anyway, possibly in the coming week.

Could the Social Security Act still be passed?

Yes, but that said, passage will now be tougher, requiring a supermajority threshold rather than a simple majority as was planned under the rule that the Freedom Caucus leaders returned.

If it passes the House, it’s unclear whether the bill has enough support to clear the Senate. But the wide margin in Parliament indicates potentially broad support.

It would then go to President Joe Biden’s desk. If signed into law, the outline says the changes are effective for benefits payable after December 2023.