The House has passed a bill to raise Social Security benefits for certain retirees.

• For decades, certain rules have been in place that reduce pensioners' Social Security benefits.
• On Tuesday, House lawmakers passed a bill that repealed those rules.
• Yet critics say more comprehensive Social Security reform should be prioritized instead.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill that proposes changes to the Social Security benefit rules for pensioners, with 327 lawmakers voting in favor of the measure.

The Senate version of the bill, which has 62 co-sponsors, surpasses the majority needed to pass the bill on the U.S. Senate floor and send it to the president's desk to be signed into law. Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Virginia, and Garret Graves, R-Louisiana, co-leaders of the bill, made this statement in a joint release.

The Social Security Fairness Act proposal aims to eliminate rules that lower Social Security benefits for those who receive pension benefits from state or local governments.

The WEP provision, which reduces Social Security benefits for individuals who worked in jobs where they did not pay Social Security payroll taxes and now receive pension or disability benefits from those employers, affects about 3% of all Social Security beneficiaries, or approximately 2.1 million people, as of December 2023, according to the Congressional Research Service.

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The bill would also eliminate the government pension offset, or GPO, which reduces Social Security benefits for spouses, widows and widowers who also receive pension checks. This would affect approximately 745,679 individuals, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Graves stated on the House floor that certain retired police officers, teachers, firefighters, and other public servants have had their incomes reduced due to rules that have been in effect for decades.

Graves stated that it has been 40 years of treating people differently and discriminating against a specific group of workers.

He stated that they are not overpaid nor underworked individuals.

Supporters call bill a 'step in the right direction'

The Social Security Fairness Act received a "bipartisan victory" for public sector employees and their families, according to the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, stated that while we have long advocated for the repeal of the WEP and GPO provisions, we would have preferred Congress to consider the more comprehensive improvements in Rep. John Larson's Social Security 2100 Act.

Larson's proposal, backed by 188 House co-sponsors, would repeal the WEP and GPO and temporarily increase benefits, but would require people with over $400,000 in income to pay more Social Security payroll taxes to fund these changes.

On Tuesday, Larson voted against the Social Security Fairness Act and the Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act. The latter bill would use a new formula for Social Security retirement and disability benefits for pensioners, rather than eliminating the WEP. It would not change the GPO.

The bill proposed by Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, did not pass when it was put to a vote.

"Larson stated that he was unable to vote for the bills on the floor tonight because they were not funded, putting Americans' benefits at risk. This would have a profound impact on the five million Americans living below the poverty line and nearly half of all Social Security recipients who rely heavily on their earned benefits for their income."

Critics say the bill will weaken Social Security

The Social Security Fairness Act is projected to increase deficits by $196 billion over the next ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Additionally, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the act would move up the depletion dates of Social Security's trust fund by six months.

On the House floor on Tuesday, Spanberger stated that the long-term solvency of Social Security is a problem that Congress must tackle.

"Allowing Americans who contributed their earnings to retire with dignity is a separate issue from what they did," she said.

The depletion of the trust fund used to pay retirement benefits in Social Security is projected by actuaries to occur in 2033, at which point only 79% of benefits will be payable. Critics argue that Congress should prioritize addressing the program's funding woes.

"Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute, stated that the policy in question is not appropriate. She explained that it was influenced by special interests and that politicians tend to cater to their demands."

Arrington's alternative bill would offer a "fairer formula" for the WEP, but broader changes are necessary to secure the program's financial stability.

Boccia suggested that Social Security be reformed to ensure basic income security for vulnerable Americans in old age without increasing the debt or tax burden on younger workers.