A new bill has been passed by the House of Representatives that would give larger Social Security payments to public workers who once had limited rights to the amount they would be given in benefits.
The bill under discussion is House Resolution 82, or the Social Security Fairness Act, the resolution was passed with a 327 to 76 vote, 191 Democrats and 136 Republicans voted yes.
This was anticipated because the bill indeed enjoyed a lot of support from both sides of the leadership, including the endorsement of the Speaker of the House for the bill to be passed.
The Social Security Fairness Act Or The SSA
The bill, which has been introduced and sponsored by Rep. Garret Graves, R-Louisiana, and Abigail Spanberger, D-Virginia, would do away with the WEP and the GPO for public servants.
The WEP diminishes the SS benefits of someone who gets a public pension from a non–Social Security-covered job, and the GPO cuts spousal SS benefits by 2/3 of a worker’s government pension.
These two provisions, both operating simultaneously, ensured that 2.8 million public service workers, Teachers, police, and other employees in government would not be in a position to receive larger social security payments for retirement than they are currently allowed legally, even after earning the credit and doing the work required to support the claim but only to struggle financially in their old age.
Graves and Spanberger said in a statement about the purpose of the bill, “By supporting the Social Security Fairness Act, the majority of the U.S.
House of Representatives demonstrated they are ready to stand for millions of Americans – police officers, educators, firefighters, and other employees of local and state municipalities who had to work on a second job or started a new second career after they retired from public service just to support their families.”
