Social Security Benefits Set To Be Expanded for Millions

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Newsweek

Published Jan 01, 2025 at 12:39 PM EST | Updated Jan 01, 2025 at 12:49 PM EST


Millions of Americans could see their social security benefits increase if President Joe Biden signs into law the Social Security Fairness Act, which has already passed both chambers of Congress with bipartisan support.

The bill moved to Biden's desk on Friday after being passed by the Senate with 76 Senators from both parties in support, against 20 Republicans who were opposed. On Facebook, the National Fraternal Order of Police, which is supporting the legislation, said Biden was "scheduled" to sign the bill on January 6 though this hasn't been officially confirmed. Newsweek contacted the White House press office for comment on Wednesday via email outside of regular office hours.

Why It Matters

If passed into law, the Social Security Fairness Act would boost social security benefits to what CNN estimates are nearly three million public sector workers at the federal and local level, including large numbers of police officers, firefighters, and teachers. Supporters of the legislation have argued the current system, which reduces benefits for employees who also collect pensions from jobs that aren't covered by social security, disproportionately impacts public sector workers and their families.

What To Know

If passed into law, the Social Security Fairness Act would repeal two federal policies, the windfall elimination provision (WEP) and the government pension offset (GPO) which currently restrict access to benefits. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the WEP "reduces benefits for retired or disabled workers who have fewer than 30 years of significant earnings from employment covered by Social Security if they also receive pensions on the basis of noncovered employment." This means employees in this category have their benefits reduced if they also receive pensions from other jobs that aren't covered by social security.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/social-security-benefits-set-expanded-millions-2008330

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The article mentions a tentative "signing date" of January 6 (although we obviously know what also happens that day so we'll see if it happens then or later).

[Ishoutandscream2]

1. I'm one of the 3 million that was affected by the WEP

I thought I would never see this happen. Very, very grateful.

[TexasBushwhacker]

11. My brother is too

He had 27 years in the private sector before he moved to doing IT for school districts and community colleges. He figures he'll get about $200 more per month. That will be enough to cover his Medicare Part B.

[Evolve Dammit]

12. same. It's a big deal for us. I had given up hope that we would ever get the SS we worked for.

[jayschool2013]

15. As I am

Means about $500 per month for the rest of my life.

Hallelujah.

[k0rs]

17. Me too

I worked for city municipal government for 28 years but paid into SS before that. I'm hoping that it means about $400~500 a month for me. I've been cheated on my SS for almost 10 years. 2024 is recoverable but unfortunately the rest is not. Nevertheless this is huge for my fixed income. I'm another who never thought I'd see this happen.

I stopped by my DR's office a few days ago and was chatting with the office personnel. They had never heard of WEP. Most folks haven't. I don't know how this got passed originally, it had to be by stealth. There should have been a massive outcry from the people that were affected. It's a huge rip-off. They have the nerve to call a few extra hundred a month (that one has actually earned) a "windfall." Another Repug scam on working people.

Helluva way to start 2025. Hallelujah is right.

[Ms. Toad]

22. Both of us in our family are/would have been affected.

There will be at least $100/month more for my spouse. She just had hers reduced, and will be paying the system back, because of a chunk of money that they didn't ask about on the form - but which she reported on a secondary form that did ask for it. Fortunately, she will now only owe it for 9 months, rather than 21 - and there will be no reduction going forward. I don't know how quickly they will act to correct the correction. It took 6 months to make the correction from the reporting date.

I'm not drawing SS yet, but my highest earning years were under SS - and are averaged with zeroes for the years I worked for public retirement systems. When I start drawing SS in 21 months, I won't have any reduction at all for the 19 years I worked in public schools and universities and the courts. Thrilled to know I won't face a second penalty on top of the zero earning years.

[LLC]

26. I am also one of the WEP Affected

And I join you in that sentiment. 😊

[Self Esteem]

2. And Trump will get all the credit since it'll take effect under him.

[4catsmom]

6. before they rescind all benefits

Per President Elon and VP Ramyswamy

[Ms. Toad]

21. It is retroactive to 2023,

and Biden will sign it. So he can try to take credit for it, but it is pretty clear he had nothing to do with it.

[Self Esteem]

27. No one pays attention to that.

People will see that they got it under Trump, though - not Biden.

[Ms. Toad]

31. Then I guess I'll take comfort in my guess that more Democrats than Republicans

are likely to be engaged in public service, and subject to the WEP.

[KT2000]

3. That was pure theft!

How that was not removed from the books a long time ago is just crazy. A person with a varied career in both private and public sector was penalized. My neighbor was going to keep working into his 70s because his SS was going to be reduced for the pension amount he earned as a teacher. That is just nuts, to put it kindly.

[CousinIT]

4. This will shorten the years before Soc Security is unable to pay full benefits.

I support it, but it's important to note that SHitler's mass deportations, removing taxes on Social Security (which go right back into the Trust Fund), and elimination of the WEP all take more money out of the Trust Fund and move up the date on which Soc Security will be unable to pay full benefits - without some sort of machination such as raising the retirement age for younger workers, decreasing COLA amounts, or lifting the $170k cap above which no FICA tax is paid, or increasing the FICA tax.

The latter two options will be vehemently and viciously fought by greedy-ass billionaires who already hate paying the FICA taxes they pay now -- which is why they and the politicians they own (Mike Lee, for instance) LIE to the American public about social security to get them to agree to CUTS (raising the retirement age is a CUT) rather than making the fucking billionaires pay their fair share.

They love to say Social Security is going "broke" (it is NOT), and they love to call it a "Ponzi scheme" and a dirty deal that can't keep its promise to America's retirees. It is none of that.

This Social Security myth buster is a vital link to keep handy: https://www.ncpssm.org/documents/2024-opeds-and-letters/7-myths-that-undermine-social-security/. FDR's grandson James Roosevelt, is a founder of NCPSSM and is working to preserve his grandfather's legacy -- and OUR retirement money that we EARNED (and the billionaires want to steal for their tax cuts).

If nothing is done, then around 2030 or so, people's Social Security payments will be 25 - 30% smaller. Most retirees can't afford such a cut.

And the fascist oligarch billionaire robber barons CAN'T WAIT to raid the Social Security Trust Fund (and the US Treasury) to pay for their fucking tax cuts, after which their politician puppets will SCREAM: "OUR DEFICIT IS TOO BIG, WE HAVE TO CUT ENTITLEMENTS!" -- and there goes our retirement money.

I never hear any Democratic politicians addressing ANY of the misinformation out there being peddled by Musk, Trump, Mike Lee, or the other rat bastards who want to steal OUR money. They need to get on this.

NOW.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Thanks for the link -- bookmarked ! nt

[nmmi]

8. " taxes on Social Security (which go right back into the Trust Fund)" - yup

https://www.ssa.gov/policy/trust-funds-summary.html

In 2022, an estimated 48 percent of beneficiaries paid income taxes on part of their benefits. Receipts from these taxes go to the OASDI Trust Funds and Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund. In 2023, income to the combined OASDI trust funds from the taxation of benefits amounted to $51 billion.

[CousinIT]

10. Yep. Eliminating those taxes is a backdoor cut to Social Security & Medicare.

The fucking oligarchs and their political pets are hoping people are too stupid to know that.

[nmmi]

9. Yeah, but Congress will never pay back what they stole, according to some . . .

Last edited Sat Jan 4, 2025, 10:31 AM - Edit history (1)

Actually, the "stolen" money is being paid back. The trust fund assets are already being cashed in because SS benefits exceed SS income.
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/

Table 4: TRUST FUND OPERATIONS, 2023
....................... OASI DI
Net change in Reserves -70.4 29.0
. . .
Since 2021, the OASI Trust Fund has been drawing down asset reserves to finance benefits and will require increasing amounts of asset redemptions during the next decade. The OASI Trust Fund has a projected reserve depletion date of 2033, the same year as in last year’s report.

The DI Trust Fund is projected to remain solvent throughout the long-range period, as in last year’s report. The DI trust fund ratio increases throughout the projection period from 92 percent at the beginning of 2024 to 858 percent for 2098.

The Trustees project that the combined OASI and DI Trust Fund reserves will continue to decrease in 2024 because total cost ($1,482 billion) is expected to exceed total income ($1,382 billion). For OASDI, the Trustees project that total cost will exceed total income in all future years, as it has starting in 2021.

The report is signed by four high Democratic officials. It is not some scraping from some Facebook page or Heritage Foundation

Janet Yellen, Secretary of the Treasury, and Managing Trustee of the Trust Funds.
Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Trustee.
Julie A. Su, Acting Secretary of Labor, and Trustee.
Martin O'Malley, Commissioner of Social Security, and Trustee.

The process is automatic and will continue unless Congress changes the law

I have some Treasuries too -- some I-bonds and a TIPs bond, plus whatever Treasuries is in various bond funds that I have. They are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, just like the securities in the trust funds.

From some other recent DU threads, here are some misconceptions ---

[Quote]My Social Security payments, and those of millions of other Americans, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you political pukes decided to raid the account and give OUR money to a bunch of zero losers in return for votes[/Quote]

they were -- and are -- invested in special non-marketable interest-bearing Treasury securities. And no, no "political pukes" decided to "raid the account" -- the loaning of Social Security surpluses to the Treasury in exchange for interest-bearing Treasury securities is the way it was set up from the beginning (blame FDR and the 74th Congress).

https://www.ssa.gov/history/hfaq.html

Q27: Do the Social Security Trust Funds earn interest? -
. . . The Trust Funds have earned interest in every year since the program began.

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/

The only disbursements permitted from the funds are benefit payments and administrative expenses. The Trustees must invest all excess funds in interest-bearing securities backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. The Department of the Treasury currently invests all program revenue in special non-marketable U.S. Government securities, which earn interest equal to average rates on marketable securities with durations defined in law.
The balances in the trust funds represent the accumulated value, including interest, of all prior program annual surpluses and deficits.

Again, this is a report by 4 high Democratic officials, the SS and Medicare Trustees.

[Quote]“It's my money”-give it back to me the way the system was designed [/Quote]

It is being given back as designed. Since 2021 SS income has fallen short of SS benefits and trust fund securities are being cashed in to make up the difference. See top of this post

More: Trust Fund FAQs: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/fundFAQ.html
Myths and Misinformation About Social Security Part 2: https://www.ssa.gov/history/InternetMyths2.html
https://www.ssa.gov/history/hfaq.html

Some more detail on the status of the OASI and DI funds, and the hypothetical OASDI fund --
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/

• The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund will be able to pay 100 percent of total scheduled benefits until 2033, unchanged from last year's report. At that time, the fund's reserves will become depleted and continuing program income will be sufficient to pay 79 percent of scheduled benefits.

• The Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund is projected to be able to pay 100 percent of total scheduled benefits through at least 2098, the last year of this report's projection period. Last year's report projected that the DI Trust Fund would be able to pay scheduled benefits through at least 2097, the last year of that report's projection period.

• If the OASI Trust Fund and the DI Trust Fund projections are combined, the resulting projected fund (designated OASDI) would be able to pay 100 percent of total scheduled benefits until 2035, one year later than reported last year. At that time, the projected fund's reserves will become depleted and continuing total fund income will be sufficient to pay 83 percent of scheduled benefits. (The two funds could not actually be combined unless there were a change in the law, but the combined projection of the two funds is frequently used to indicate the overall status of the Social Security program.)

So the latest S.S. trustees' estimate of the trust funds exhaustion date is 2035. I read somewhere else that the provision Biden is set to sign, the Social Security Fairness Act, will advance that date by about 6 months.

Separate issue, but so it's all in one place: income taxes on Social Security benefits, go into the Social Security system, not into the general fund - see #8 for citation.

[ancianita]

18. Great post! Hope you make it an OP. More people need to read this!

[nmmi]

19. Thanks, I appreciate that 😊. I've been thinking about an OP/nt

[ancianita]

20. Please do. More folks need to see this.

[valleyrogue]

32. SS isn't going "broke." It is a fable. Congress can make up any shortfall by using the general fund.

Not to mention no federal program can go "broke" since the feds print money. This is why there is no big rush to "fix" SS. This is mostly bookkeeping bullshit rather than reality. Congress knows this.

The fable was all right-wing, libertarian bullshit to begin with, designed to create generational warfare. This bullshit by the Cato Institute and others has been peddled for over 40 years in order to undermine the program.

Besides, the organization involved in getting this legislation passed is revamping in order to continue support for Medicare and SS.

[CousinIT]

33. Problem: taking it from the General Fund makes it easier to cut

Than robbing it from the Soc Security Trust Fund. If it's in the GF it becomes part of the budget process. When it's 100% in the trust fund, it isn't (as much as the robber barons want to pretend it is and they keep trying to rob it to pay for their fucking tax cuts).

It's best that adjustments be made to prevent taking from the GF - the argument is about what adjustments (raising the age or reducing COLA vs raising the cap or increasing the FICA tax). Billionaires hate the latter two, the rest of us hate the former two.

[gopiscrap]

5. My wife was a public school teacher

for 24 years hopefully she will get a raise

[Igel]

14. She'll have a penalty removed.

If you just look at the numbers on the check, the two are indistinguishable. Then again, letting a tax cut expire looks like a tax increase (but one year, not wanting to say that "tax increase", letting a tax cut sunset was termed a "negative tax cut" as though the ol' bank account cares about the difference).

But still, the legal niceties matter.

I'm thinking about retiring in July '27 to maximize my OASI. (If I can hang in there with the high-schoolers for one additional year). It's nice to have more for a few years; but currently it also means significantly less sooner.

[Joe Nation]

13. This impacts both my wife and my SS benefits.

We both contributed to the federal SS system for the requisite 10 years or 40 quarters before taking public sector jobs that didn't pay into the federal system but did pay into the state system. Upon retirement, my SS benefit was cut by a third and when my wife begins collecting SS benefits at 67, she was only going to get about 20 bucks thanks to the WEP. After this bill is signed, she'll receive about 950 to 1,000 dollars a month at age 67. A nice increase. Thanks to whoever for correcting this unnecessary and costly problem.

Meanwhile, Jeff Besos pays nothing in taxes.

[Ishoutandscream2]

24. Where we are as well

We will both now get our pensions from education, and what we earned from our over 40 credits of work we paid into FICA. I’m estimating at least 1000 more bucks total. Again, thankful and grateful. But it still upsets me this ridiculous law stood for 40 years (thank you, St. Ronnie).

[Martin68]

16. Trying to lock in as much good stuff as possible before Trump takes office. Like laying up supplies before winter hits

[C0RI0LANUS]

23. FOP endorsed Trump in 2024, but FOP likes Democratic Party policies that puts money into people's pockets.

Link:

https://fop.net/2024/09/fop-endorses-trump/

[Ishoutandscream2]

25. It's mind boggling

This is purely Democratic. FDRs baby.

[C0RI0LANUS]

28. Happy New Year, Ishoutandscream2. Agree 100%. Like been said: If you want to live like a Republican, vote Democratic.

Thanks for nothing, FOP!

[rso]

29. WEP and GPO

Needless to say, the WEP repeal is a momentous victory, but I noticed that no one mentioned the repeal of the GPO (Government Pension Offset), which is also included in the new legislation. The GPO will help surviving spouses of SS recipients who pass away by now being able to collect the spouse’s SS benefits.

[BumRushDaShow]

30. Surviving spouses could already collect

I know my mom was one of those about a decade before the WEP/GPO law went into effect and although she would have been eligible for her own, she received my dad's (which OPM had told her would have been higher), where he was a fed who passed away while still on the job but had also paid into both systems.

When the law went into effect, she was hit with the offset as a cut off and there was also a change to benefits for surviving children who were recipients where they could receive benefits until age 22 if enrolled in college and that was dropped to age 19 (if still in high school).

[LetMyPeopleVote]

34. Happening Now: President Biden signs the Social Security Fairness Act.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[BumRushDaShow]

35. Glad he did it today

as last week it was tentatively going to be tomorrow, although lots going on tomorrow - with him going to NOL and then the Electoral College certification - AND - lots of D.C. snowy weather!!