The Social Security Fairness Act is now in the hands of the Senate. Here's what could happen next.
Efforts to get the Senate to vote on a bill to expand Social Security benefits are intensifying, as the House-passed Social Security Fairness Act enjoys rare bipartisan support but has only a short window of time — less than four weeks — to be passed.
Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy took to social media to decry that a vote on the measure has yet to be scheduled in the chamber, with the Republican lawmaker posting on December 3 on social media that "it is unfair to penalize Americans who have taught our children, protected our streets and ran into burning buildings."
In a speech on the Senate floor earlier in the week, Cassidy, a Republican, called on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York to schedule a vote on the measure. Schumer, a Democrat and co-sponsor of the legislation, could invoke a Senate rule that would skip a committee hearing and send the bill directly to a floor vote by the full Senate.
"If Schumer brings it up, it'll pass," Cassidy said.
Schumer's office did not respond to requests for comment.
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in late November held a press conference to urge her colleagues to pass the measure, and also advocated for it on social media.
"Retired teachers & firefighters deserve access to the Social Security benefits they've earned. That's why I'm working to repeal provisions that unfairly reduce Social Security benefits for public servants. Let's get it done!," the Democrat posted.
The last-ditch pleas come as Americans express concern about the future of the nearly 90-year-old safety net, which was enacted during Franklin Roosevelt's administration to address economic insecurity, especially among the elderly. A new Bankrate survey found that 53% of workers expect to rely on Social Security benefits to pay their necessary expenses once they retire. Meanwhile, 73% of those polled worry that the benefits won't be there when they retire.
"We're guardedly optimistic," Shannon Benton executive director of The Senior Citizens League, or TSCL, an advocacy group devoted to protecting retirement benefits, said of the current proposal. "There is so much momentum, if it doesn't get passed now, a lot of people will lose hope."
Decades in the making, the legislation would eliminate a provision that reduces Social Security payments to some retirees who also collect a pension from jobs that aren't covered by the retirement program, such as state and federal workers including teachers, police officers and U.S. postal workers. It would also end a second provision that reduces Social Security benefits for those workers' surviving spouses and family members.
Various forms of the measure have been introduced over the years, but like many legislative proposals, they had failed to get enacted.
"I've been working at the league 25 years, and I don't remember ever not having a version," said Benton.
Introduced by Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Garret Graves, R-La., the bill was passed by the House in a 327-75 vote late Tuesday night, after a last-ditch effort to derail it by members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus failed.
What happens next to the Social Security Fairness Act?
Despite having 62 cosponsors in the Senate, the bill still needs to be brought up for a vote by the chamber's leadership, and soon.
The bill "dies December 31, at the end of the second session of Congress," Benton said. "Not only would this bill have to start from scratch, but a new person would have to introduce it."
The Republican and Democratic lawmakers who introduced the measures in their respective bodies either did not run for reelection or lost their reelection bid, as was the case with Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, who introduced the bill in the Senate.
If the Social Security Fairness Act comes up for a vote in the Senate, it's expected to pass, having already secured the majority needed to send it to President Joe Biden for his signature.
If signed into law, the changes would be effective for benefits payable after December 2023.
What does the Social Security Fairness Act do?
The legislation would cut two provisions that curtail retirement payments for public workers and their surviving spouses and family members, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), which Spanberger and Graves argue are tantamount to theft of those workers' benefits.
The WEP impacts about 2 million Social Security beneficiaries and the GPO nearly 800,000 retirees.
"For more than 40 years, the Social Security trust funds have been artificially propped up by stolen benefits that millions of Americans paid for and that their families deserve," they said in a Nov. 13 statement.
As things stand now, the WEP reduces the Social Security benefits of workers who also receive a public pension from a job not covered by Social Security. For instance, that would include teachers who don't earn Social Security through their public school positions but who work part-time or during the summer in jobs that are covered by Social Security, even though they pay into the system over enough quarters to qualify.
The GPO impacts the spousal benefits of people who work for federal, state or local governments — including police officers, firefighters and teachers — if the job is not covered by Social Security. The GPO cuts by two-thirds the benefit received by surviving spouses who also collect a government pension, often offsetting benefits entirely.
For instance, under the GPO, someone who receives a $900 spousal benefit from Social Security but who also has a $1,000 non-covered pension would see their Social Security benefit cut by $667. That would leave them with a $233 remaining spousal benefit from Social Security.
Under the Social Security Fairness Act, the same person would receive the entire $900 spousal benefit.
"Workers should be able to count on the retirement benefits they've earned," said Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, an original cosponsor of the bill. "It's time to pass the Social Security Fairness Act so government workers and their families and people with disabilities are not punished for earning multiple sources of retirement income."
What is the chance of the Social Security Fairness Act passing?
The biggest opposition to the bill is its cost. The Congressional Budget Office estimates it would cost upward of $190 billion over a decade.
"It would hasten the combined trust funds shortfall by six months to a year, when it's already in trouble," said Benton, who said TSCL supports reforming Social Security to resolve its projected insolvency in 2033 to 2034.
"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," Graves and Spanberger said in their joint statement.