Washington — The House of Representatives passed a bill that would provide full Social Security benefits to millions of people, moving us one step closer to becoming law.
The Social Security bill on Tuesday won bipartisan support in the House, 327-75, now in the lame duck period of Congress. The bill now heads to the Senate, where passage is not guaranteed despite significant support.
Here’s what you need to know about the bill and what might happen next.
According to a report from the Congressional Research Service, over several decades, the legislation has included a Windfall Elimination provision and a Government Pension Offset that currently limit Social Security payments to about 2.8 million people. It would repeal two federal policies.
The policy significantly cuts payments to two groups of Social Security beneficiaries: those who receive benefits from jobs that do not receive Social Security benefits, and the surviving spouses of Social Security beneficiaries who receive government benefits.
People who work in state, local and federal governments have been greatly affected by the policy, as have teachers, firefighters and police officers, according to lawmakers and advocates.
The bill would repeal both provisions, increasing Social Security payments for many people.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill’s budget impact is significant, estimated to add about $195 billion to the federal deficit over the past decade.
This means greater financial strain on the Social Security Trust Fund, which is already estimated to be unable to pay full benefits starting in 2035. Some conservatives in the House attempted to block the bill because of its cost.
Supporters of the bill in the House acknowledged the financial impact but said it was a matter of fairness.
“For more than 40 years, the Social Security Trust Fund has been artificially sustained by millions of Americans paying in and stealing the benefits their families deserve,” said Rep. Garret Graves, R-La. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., the main sponsor of the House bill.
“The time to end this theft is now,” they said.
The Social Security bill has 63 sponsors in the Senate, a significant number since 60 votes are needed to pass most bills in the chamber.
State sponsors Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, urged their colleagues to advance the bill as quickly as possible.
But the Senate has a packed schedule in the remaining weeks of the year with government funding, disaster relief and passing a mandatory annual defense bill that will likely take up a significant amount of session time.
If passed by the Senate, the bill will be sent to President Joe Biden. If the bill passes, the changes would take effect for benefits paid after December 2023.
But if the bill doesn’t pass the Senate by Jan. 3, when the new Congress begins, it will expire and supporters will have to start over.
