This week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill about Social Security that was supported by both parties. This bill will allow workers who are also eligible for other pensions to get bigger Social Security payments.
The Senate will then look at the Social Security Fairness Act in its next meeting. Here are some facts about the bill and the people who will benefit from passing it:
The legislative summary says that the act would get rid of rules that make some Social Security benefits less for people who get other benefits, like a pension from the state or local government.
It would get rid of the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). The WEP could cut the benefits of people who got a retirement or disability pension from a company that did not take Social Security taxes out of their pay.
The Social Security Administration says this kind of employer could be the government or a business in another country.
The law summary says that the GPO sometimes lowers Social Security payments for spouses, widowers, and widowers who also get government pensions. The bill would get rid of those parts, which would bring back full Social Security benefits.
Which Americans could receive this new Social Security benefit?
People who get other benefits from the government, like pensions, may benefit if the plan is approved. Republican Rep. Garrett Graves of Louisiana and Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, who both sponsored the bill, used teachers as examples.
Graves and Spanberger said in a joint statement that teachers who do not work full-time in public schools but do work part-time or during the summer in a job that is covered by Social Security get less in Social Security benefits, even though they have paid into the system for enough quarters to be eligible.
The bill may also help spouses, widows, and widowers of people who work for the federal, state, or local government.
The Congressional Research Service says that the GPO affects about 800,000 retirees and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) affects about 2 million Social Security recipients at the moment.
Why has this proposed law received so much criticism?
Most members of Congress were in their home states on Election Day and not on Capitol Hill. But two leaders of the conservative House Freedom Caucus stepped in after the election.
While the House was meeting normally on November 5, former Chairman Bob Goode (R-Va.) and Freedom Caucus leader Andy Harris (R-Md.) quickly brought up a part of the proposal.
The bill would add about $196 billion to the government deficit over ten years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The Freedom Caucus, according to the Associated Press, tends to stop more spending. People in the U.S. would lose that much money if they got all of their Social Security benefits back, Graves said.
Graves and Spanberger, who wrote the bill, used a discharge petition, which is a rarely successful method, to get the law passed. Their goal was to get at least 218 signatures from House members in order to move the bill from committee to the floor for a vote.
The Associated Press says that many people think this is disrespectful to House leaders, especially the speaker and majority leader, who decide what happens on the floor.
But before he became Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson backed the bill, and Spanberger and Graves, who both chose not to run for reelection, did not have much to lose. Along with 62 other people, the bill is now on its way to the Senate.
In a statement, the co-sponsors also asked the Senate leadership to take advantage of the clear momentum, vote on our bipartisan measure, and give Americans who have worked hard for their retirement the security they deserve.
After that, it would get to the desk of the president. If the changes are made into law, the summary says that they will apply to Social Security benefits that are due after December 2023.
