The Senate just voted to expand Social Security benefits for nearly 3 million Americans: Check if you are one of them

The Senate has beaten the year-end deadline and passed the Social Security Fairness Act 76-20. The bill will now head to the desk of President Joe Biden, who is set to sign it into law.

The legislation aims to repeal two federal policies, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO, which affect the benefits of millions of public sector workers.

These policies were originally crafted to make Social Security fair, but public workers argue they are being penalized for receiving public pensions and are not receiving the Social Security benefits they deserve.

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The Senate just voted to expand Social Security benefits for nearly 3 million Americans: Check if you are one of them

The Fairness Act will allow public workers, including educators, police officers, firefighters, postal workers, and other people who receive a government pension to collect their full Social Security benefits.

The WEP and GPO have caused the reductions or complete loss of benefits for almost 2.8 Americans.

Employees receiving a pension who are a widow or widower of someone who received Social Security benefits may have reduced survivors benefits or may not receive benefits at all.

WEP adjusts the amount a Social Security benefit for people who have less than 30 years of significant earnings from employment covered by Social Security and who also receive a “non-covered pension.” These are pensions that are “paid by an employer that does not withhold Social Security taxes from your salary, typically, state and local governments or non-U.S. employers.”

GPO on the other hand “reduces the spousal or widow(er) benefit by two-thirds of the monthly non-covered pension,” says the Social Security Administration. Of the 5.84 million spousal or widow(er) beneficiaries in 2022, the GPO applied to roughly 12.6% of them. Approximately 70% of those affected had their entire benefit offset by the GPO.

According to CBS News, the policies have had an impact on all employees of state, county, municipal and special districts in 26 states, while teachers in 13 of those states, including specific districts in Kentucky and Georgia, are also affected. In Massachusetts and certain districts in Rhode Island, only teachers’ benefits are affected.

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