President Biden signed legislation Sunday expanding Social Security benefits to millions of retired Americans, including firefighters, police officers and teachers.
Former Vice President Biden said at a gathering at the White House before signing the Social Security Fairness Act, “Americans who have worked hard their whole lives to make an honest living should be able to retire with economic security and dignity.” The average monthly increase for more than 2.5 million Social Security recipients is $360.
“That’s a big deal for a middle-class family like the one I grew up in and the one many of you did,” the president added.
The president also said those recipients would receive a lump sum of thousands of dollars to make up for any shortfall in benefits they would have received in 2024.
Social Security Fairness Act Eliminates two federal policies. It prohibited employees receiving public pensions from receiving full benefits under federal retirement programs and reduced benefits for those employees’ surviving spouses and family members.
“Biden is the first president to expand Social Security benefits in 20 years,” a White House spokesman said in a statement. “The bill he signs today will expand benefits by hundreds of dollars each month to more than 2.5 million Americans.”
The new legislation began soon after President Biden signed it into law after the Senate met on December 21, just weeks before his presidency ends. Voted 76-20 We plan to pass this bill toward the end of the 118th Congress. congressman approved the billKnown as HR 82 in November.
long and hard road
Efforts to strengthen Social Security payments for public pension recipients have been decades in the making, with the Senate holding its first hearings on the policy in 2003.
The Social Security Fairness Act received bipartisan support but faced last-minute opposition from some Republicans over cost concerns. The law is expected to increase the federal deficit by about $195 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The benefit increases under the new law will be retroactive to December 2023. Therefore, eligible beneficiaries who previously received only partial benefits will receive the full amount retroactively, going back one year.
Specifically, the new Social Security law repeals policies known as windfall protection provisions (WEPs) and government pension offsets (GPOs) that reduced Social Security payments to 2.5 million retirees. Edward Kelly, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, said in a statement Sunday that Congress “broken its promise” when it enacted the anti-windfall provisions and the government pension offset provisions.
“Today, that promise is restored, and retired firefighters and emergency medical workers will now receive the full Social Security benefits they have earned and paid for,” Kelly said.
Last September, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that repealing WEP would increase monthly payments to affected Social Security beneficiaries by an average of $360 through December 2025, according to the Associated Press.
Repealing the GPO would increase monthly benefits by an average of $700 in December 2025 for 380,000 beneficiaries who receive benefits on a living spouse basis, the agency said. The increase amounts to an average of $1,190 for 390,000 people, or a surviving spouse receiving widow or widower benefits.
“Existing law denies millions of Americans the full Social Security benefits they have earned,” former Vice President Biden said after signing the bill.
contributed to this report.
