Biden Signs Social Security Fairness Act

President Joe Biden

President Joe Biden signed into law on Sunday the Social Security Fairness Act, which will boost Social Security benefits for almost 3 million public workers.

The bipartisan legislation, just passed by Congress in December, repealed two provisions that reduced Social Security benefits for certain public workers who also receive pensions, including teachers, police officers and firefighters.

“The law that existed denied million of Americans access to the full Social Security benefits they earned by thousands of dollars a year,” Biden said during a televised event at the White House. “That denial of benefits also applied to surviving spouses of public service employees.”

The law repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset provision of Social Security, which reduced Social Security benefits for more than four decades for public workers who receive pensions from state and federal jobs.

The reduced benefits were “particularly salient given county workforce shortages, potentially deterring talent from serving in the public sector,” according to a post by the National Association of Counties, which advocates for county governments. Restoring full benefits will result in some retired public servants seeing an increase of up to $587 in monthly benefits, according to the International Association of Fire Fighters.

“After 40 years of being treated like second-class citizens, a wrong has finally been righted, and millions of retirees can afford to retire with dignity—and with the Social Security benefits they earned and paid into,” IAFF General President Edward Kelly said in a statement. “Repealing the WEP/GPO has been one of my top priorities as General President.”

The U.S. Senate voted 76 to 20 to pass the act, H.R. 82, on December 21, 2024. The U.S. House of Representatives had passed H.R. 82 on November 12, 2024, by a vote of 327 to 75.

According to the Congressional Research Service, there were about 745,679 people—about 1% of Social Security beneficiaries—who had their benefits reduced by the Government Pension Offset. Meanwhile, about 2.1 million people—about 3% of beneficiaries—were affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision, according to the IAFF. About 71.6 million people receive Social Security, according to the Office of Retirement and Disability Policy.

The bill will result in increased payments to affected workers from the Social Security Administration, the future management of which will likely be discussed after President-elect Donald Trump takes office later this month. The benefit’s Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and Disability Insurance Trust Fund are projected to become insolvent in 2035, resulting in a reduction of benefits, unless legislators take action.