Biden signs Social Security bill to increase benefits for millions of public workers

President Joe Biden on Sunday signed the Social Security Fairness Act, bipartisan legislation that clears the way for teachers, firefighters, policeman and other public sector workers who also receive pension income to receive increases in their Social Security benefits.

The benefit boost comes as the new law repeals two provisions — the Windfall Elimination Provision, or WEP, and the Government Pension Offset, or GPO — that have been in place for more than four decades.

The WEP reduces Social Security benefits for individuals who receive pension or disability benefits from employment where Social Security payroll taxes were not withheld. As of December 2023, that provision affected about 2 million Social Security beneficiaries.

The GPO reduces Social Security benefits for spouses, widows and widowers who also receive income from their own government pensions. In December 2023, the GPO affected almost 750,000 beneficiaries.

“With the repeal of WEP and GPO, federal retirees, along with so many others, will finally receive the full Social Security benefits they’ve earned,” William Shackelford, president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, said in a statement.

The bill was passed by the Senate on Dec. 21 with a 76 bipartisan majority vote, including Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, who co-led the legislation in that chamber. In November, the Social Security Fairness Act was passed by the House with a 327 bipartisan majority, led by Reps. Garret Graves, R-La., and Abigail Spanberger, D-Va.

Advocacy groups who lobbied for the changes praised Biden’s signing of the bill as a historic move.

“Our organization has spent decades lobbying for the repeal of the WEP and GPO,” Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, said in a statement. “We endorsed the Social Security Fairness Act — and are gratified to finally see this legislation enacted and signed by the president.”

The Social Security Fairness Act will affect Social Security benefits payable after December 2023. More details on how the benefit increase will be implemented are not yet available, according to the Social Security Administration.

“This victory is more than 40 years in the making, and while we celebrate today, we also reflect on those who were impacted by these provisions but are no longer here to witness this change,” Shackelford said. “Their service and contributions are not lost on us, and we honor their legacy by continuing to advocate for fairness in retirement benefits for all public servants.”