President Joe Biden has signed the Social Security Fairness Act into law, effectively repealing the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). These provisions, which had been in place for over four decades, reduced Social Security benefits for certain public workers who also receive pension income. The WEP affected about 2 million Social Security beneficiaries as of December 2023, reducing benefits for individuals who receive pension or disability benefits from employment where Social Security payroll taxes were not withheld.
The GPO, on the other hand, reduced Social Security benefits for spouses, widows, and widowers who also receive income from their own government pensions, affecting almost 750,000 beneficiaries as of December 2023. By signing this bill, President Biden has paved the way for nearly 3 million public workers to boost their Social Security benefits. That means an estimated average of $360 per month increase,” Biden said during the signing ceremony, emphasizing the significance of this extra income for middle-class households.
More than 2.5 million Americans will receive a lump-sum payment of thousands of dollars to make up for the shortfall in benefits they should have received in 2024, according to the President.
Biden’s repeal boosts social benefits
The Social Security Fairness Act will affect Social Security benefits payable after December 2023.
Advocacy groups who lobbied for the changes for decades praised the move as historic. William Shackelford, president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, said in a statement, “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.
The bill received bipartisan support in both the Senate and the House, with Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) co-leading the legislation in the Senate, and Reps.
Garret Graves (R-La.) and Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) leading the charge in the House. Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, expressed gratitude for the enactment of the legislation, stating, “Our organization has spent decades lobbying for the repeal of the WEP and GPO. We are gratified to finally see this legislation enacted and signed by the president.”
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