President Joe Biden signed a Social Security bill into law that repeals statutes that diminished payouts to teachers, firefighters and other public-sector workers on Sunday, Jan. 5, according to the Texas State Teachers Association’s website and that of other professional organizations.
Organizations such as the National Education Association, of which the Texas State Teachers Assoc. is associated, the National Association of Police officers, International Association of Firefighters, National Association of Letter Carrier and other groups praised the bill after years of lobbying for it to be passed.
One of the statutes the Social Security Fairness Act repeals, the Windfall Elimination Provision, was enacted in 1983 and reduced Social Security benefits for workers receiving government pensions not covered by Social Security. The Social Security Fairness Act also repeals the Government Pension Offset, which was enacted in 1977 and shrunk benefits for spouses, widows and widowers with spouses receiving public sector pensions.
“The bill I’m signing today is about a simple proposition: Americans who have worked hard all their lives to earn an honest living should be able to retire with economic security and dignity,” Biden said. He added that the bill should lead to an estimated average monthly increase of $360 for certain public employees and their spouses and survivors.
More than 2.5 million Americans are set to receive a lump sum payment worth “thousands of dollars” to make up for the shortfall and the benefits they should have received last year. The bill will cost $196 billion over the next 10 years, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office.
