President Biden Signs Historic Social Security Legislation, ‘Righting a 50 Year Wrong’

"President Biden's signing of the Social Security Fairness Act today truly is historic. The new law rights a wrong that for the last 50 years has either reduced or eliminated the Social Security benefits of certain government retirees. Nearly 3 million public sector employees and families will now be eligible to collect their full Social Security benefits. These include hard-working public servants like teachers, firefighters, and police officers whose benefits were affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). The Social Security Fairness Act repeals both provisions.

Our organization has spent decades lobbying for the repeal of the WEP and GPO. We endorsed the Social Security Fairness Act - and are gratified to finally see this legislation enacted and signed by the president.

The Social Security Fairness Act was enacted on a bipartisan basis, with Republican and Democratic sponsors. Members of Congress clearly listened to their constituents, who justifiably believed that the WEP & GPO were fundamentally unfair.

We encourage the new 119th Congress to keep listening to the American people - and to take action on a bipartisan basis to strengthen Social Security without cutting benefits. Public opinion polling indicates that majorities of Americans across party lines want to see benefits boosted, not cut. They favor bringing more revenue into the program by demanding the wealthy contribute their fair share in payroll taxes.

This is the bipartisan solution that most Americans want, even though some on Capitol Hill have proposed to slash benefits by raising the retirement age, means testing, cutting COLAs, or privatizing Social Security.

Congratulations to the sponsors and cosponsors of the Social Security Fairness Act for their perseverance in enacting the bill before the end of the 118th Congress. Thanks also to President Biden for signing it into law - and for consistently fulfilling his promise to protect Americans' earned benefits all the way through the end of his presidency. We can only hope that President-elect Trump will keep his promises to do the same." - Max Richtman, President & CEO, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare

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Media Inquires:

Walter Gottlieb

[email protected]

www.ncpssm.org