The Social Security Fairness Act, repealing the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset portions of Social Security law, got President Joe Biden’s signature on Sunday. The National Fraternal Order of Police, which favors the bill along with other public employees, and groups like the National Education Association supported the bill, as did President Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 20.
The new legislation repeals the two provisions that reduced Social Security benefits to employees who did not consistently pay into Social Security on some or all their earnings, and who are receiving a pension from that work history in lieu of Social Security.
Due to the high number of government workers who receive pensions, Alaska has more retirees whose bank accounts will benefit from the bill than any other state, by percentage.
Some retired workers, such as those who work for the municipality of Juneau, never got a cut in their Social Security payments because the city of Juneau continued to pay Social Security on workers’ behalf. Thus, they get their defined benefit pension and their full Social Security payment.
Many Alaska retirees receive a pension through the old defined benefits plan that the State of Alaska had for state workers, municipal workers, and teachers, until it was discontinued in 2006. Social Security makes a big deduction on their federal benefits, depending on a variety of factors.
The Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset were tacked onto the Social Security Act in 1983.
These provisions reduced or eliminated altogether retirement benefits for more than 2.4 million Americans. According one report, the WEP has denied benefits to more than 1.7 million Americans, and the GPO impacted 20,000 Social Security beneficiaries. More than 320,000 American retirees are impacted by both the WEP and the GPO.
Biden had until Jan. 8 to sign the bill. Per the U.S. Constitution, after 10 days, excluding Sundays, a bill that has passed both House and Senate “automatically becomes law (if Congress is in session) or does not become law if Congress adjourns before the 10-day deadline. The members of the 119th Congress were sworn in on Friday.
The Congressional Budget Office said eliminating the Windfall Elimination Provision will increase payments to these impacted retirees by an average of $360 per month. Ending the Government Pension Offset will increase payments by $700 a month for 380,000 recipients who get benefits, and qualifying widows will get an average of $1,190 more per months.
It’s unclear how much this will cost the Social Security system, but some estimates say it will drive it into insolvency about six months before the expected date of 2035.
Social Security Administration issued an emergency message in mid-2024, instructing workers on how to answer the public’s questions about the changes that would be coming if the bill was signed into law. That explanation is at this link.
