The bill would eliminate the government offset that can reduce Social Security benefits for those who also receive government pensions of their own.
The U.S. House voted in favor of a bill that would increase Social Security payments for certain retirees who are on a pension.
The measure passed earlier this week, with 327 lawmakers voting in support of the bill. The proposal will now go to the Senate, where it will likely be passed because 62 senators publicly backed their version of the bill, according to the two House lawmakers who co-sponsored the bill.
The bill, called the Social Security Fairness Act, would repeal provisions that reduce Social Security payments to people who receive pension benefits from local or state governments.
The bill will eliminate the “government pension offset,” which can reduce Social Security benefits for “spouses, widows, and widowers who also receive government pensions of their own,” according to the text of the bill.
It also would terminate the “windfall elimination provision, which in some instances reduces Social Security benefits for individuals who also receive a pension or disability benefit from an employer that did not withhold Social Security taxes,” the bill’s text reads. Around 3 percent of all Social Security recipients, or 2.1 million people, were impacted by the provision as of December 2023, the Congressional Research Service said in a report released earlier this year.
The proposed changes would be effective for benefits payable after December 2023, it also says.
Rep. Garrett Graves (R-La.) said on the House floor that the provision are, in effect, a form of discrimination against certain workers.
“This has been 40 years of treating people differently, discriminating against a certain set of workers,” Graves said. “They’re not people that are overpaid; they’re not people that are underworked,” he said on Nov. 12.
He then listed police officers, teachers, firefighters, and other “public service” workers as those who would be affected by the bill. Retired federal, state, and local government employees may also be impacted by the change, according to a statement from Graves’s office.
A co-sponsor of the bill, Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), said in a statement that the bill would “provide a secure retirement to the hundreds of thousands of spouses, widows, and widowers who are denied their spouses’ Social Security benefits simply because they chose careers of service.”
“Social Security trust funds have been artificially propped up by stolen benefits that millions of Americans paid for and that their families deserve,” she said. “The long-term solvency of Social Security is an issue that Congress must address—but an issue that is wholly separate from allowing Virginians, Louisianans, and Americans across our country who did their part and contributed their earnings to retire with dignity.”
If the Senate passes the measure, the bill would then go to President Joe Biden’s desk. The House passed the bill in the “lame duck” session that lasts several months following a general election and before the next Congress is sworn in, which is on Jan. 3, 2025.
The Social Security Administration last month said that retirees will receive a 2.5 percent increase in their Social Security checks in 2025. That translates into an average of roughly $50 per month more starting in January, according to the agency.
The cost-of-living adjustment, also known as COLA, is tied to inflation. The COLA for 2024’s payments was 3.2 percent, reflecting higher inflation at the time.
The same 2.5 percent increase will be applied to those receiving supplemental security income benefits, which is designed for the elderly and people with disabilities. In total, more than 72.5 million people will benefit from the increase, the Social Security Administration said in a statement.
In January, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax is set to rise to $176,100 from $168,600, the agency also said.
Reuters contributed to this report.