A historic day and the victory of many workers who have tirelessly fought for decades to finally have the Social Security Fairness Act signed. Millions of public sector retirees have been fighting against this unfair measure for years, so now, with the approval of H.R. 82 (which is what this new law is called) these injustices that these people were experiencing are finally going to end. Now we are going to tell you everything that has happened with this law and what it means that Biden has finally signed it.
What is the Social Security Fairness Act?
This law, which has recently been signed by Biden, is going to eliminate two federal policies that until now have been doing a lot of harm to public sector workers; teachers, police officers and firefighters are the main former workers affected by this measure. These two federal policies were the Benefit Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Discount (GPO). Basically, what these laws did was significantly reduce the money that these ex-workers received from their pension (and also their spouses), so now there will be 2.5 million people who will be able to receive their full benefits that they have earned through so many years of service!
Does this have an economic impact on families?
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that this law will increase monthly payments by approximately $360 for beneficiaries who have been affected. Also, the surviving spouses of these workers will see their monthly income increase to $1,190 by December 2025. The payments will be retroactive to December 2023, meaning that this December these people will receive the amount accumulated to compensate for the deficit of the last few months.
How important is this change?
Consider that for decades, these former workers have been deprived of receiving their full pension due to these policies. Edward Kelly, president of the International Association of Firefighters, said that these had been broken promises that had finally been repaired. Thus, Biden, when signing this law, said that public families also deserve to retire with dignity, especially because they have worked all their lives to be able to retire with dignity.
How has the process towards approval been?
This “revolt” began more than two decades ago, there were initial hearings in the Senate (it would be 2003), but there have been many obstacles to passing it, mainly because the budget is estimated to be $195 billion over the next few years. Many have opposed this reform because we are in a time when Social Security funds are at historic lows, and it is estimated that there will be resources until 2033 (beyond that, there is no data available…), so those who have opposed it are not because they are against these ex-workers finally receiving the money they deserve, but because there is no alternative that proposes a recovery of the funds.
Do beneficiaries need to do anything?
No, the SSA (Social Security Administration) has assured that beneficiaries will not have to request anything at all and that they will receive their money immediately before the end of the year. They only recommend that users verify their contact information in case they need to notify something.
So, the approval of this law is an achievement that corrects decades of injustices in the Social Security system, and will not only improve the present of many retirees, but also the future of all those who dedicate themselves to public service. It is clear that there are still many things to correct and value, but at least, from now on 2.5 million people will be able to sleep peacefully knowing that they will not have a hard time making ends meet and that they are finally getting what they deserve after so many years!