Social Security: Senate begins final push to expand benefits for millions
WASHINGTON - The Senate is pushing toward a vote that would pass a law to provide full Social Security benefits for millions of Americans.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday the bill would "ensure Americans are not erroneously denied their well-earned Social Security benefits simply because they chose at some point to work in their careers in public service."
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What’s in the bill?
The Social Security Fairness Act would eliminate policies that currently limit payouts for roughly 2.8 million people.
If passed, the bill would repeal two federal policies — the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset — that broadly reduce payments to two groups of Social Security recipients: people who also receive a pension from a job that is not covered by Social Security and surviving spouses of Social Security recipients who receive a government pension of their own.
It would add more strain on the Social Security Trust funds, which were already estimated to be unable to pay out full benefits beginning in 2035. It would add an estimated $195 billion to federal deficits over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget also estimates that if passed, the policy would hasten the Social Security program's insolvency date by about half a year as well as reduce lifetime Social Security benefits by an additional $25,000 for a typical dual-income couple retiring in 2033.
FILE - In this photo illustration, a Social Security card sits alongside checks from the U.S. Treasury on Oct. 14, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo illustration by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Who supports the bill?
The legislation passed the House on a bipartisan vote, and a Senate version of the bill introduced last year gained 62 cosponsors. But the bill still needs support from at least 60 senators to pass Congress. It would then head to President Joe Biden.
Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Republican in leadership, acknowledged that the policy has strong bipartisan support, but said some Republicans also want to see it "fixed in the context of a broader Social Security reform effort."