The Senate is moving forward with a bill that would provide full Social Security benefits to millions of people and could be passed in the final days of the lame-duck session.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York on Thursday announced the process for a final vote on the bill, known as the Social Security Fairness Act, which would repeal policies that currently limit Social Security payments to about 2.8 million people. announced that it would start.
Schumer said the bill would “ensure that no American is wrongly denied their hard-earned Social Security benefits simply because at some point they chose a career in public service.” .
The bill passed the House on a bipartisan vote, and the Senate version of the bill introduced last year had 62 co-sponsors. However, the bill still needs support from at least 60 senators to pass Congress. After that, it will turn to President Biden.
At least one Republican senator, Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana, who signed a similar bill last year, said he was still “considering” whether to vote in favor of the bill next week.
“I don’t know if I’m going to go into more debt because I’m not getting paid anything,” he said.
The bill, decades in the making, would repeal two federal policies, the windfall deduction provision and the government pension offset, that separate two groups of Social Security recipients from jobs not covered by Social Security. It would significantly reduce payments to people who also receive pensions. Coverage and Surviving Spouse of Social Security Recipients Receiving Public Pensions.
The bill would further increase the burden on the Social Security Trust Fund, which is already estimated to be unable to pay out full benefits starting in 2035. The federal deficit would increase by an estimated $195 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget also found that if the policy passes, it would move the bankruptcy date of the Social Security program forward by about six months and reduce lifetime Social Security benefits by an additional 20,000 yen for the typical working couple retiring in 2015. We estimate that this will result in a savings of $5,000. 2033.
Sen. John Thune, No. 2 Republican leader, acknowledged that the policy has strong bipartisan support, but some Republicans also agree that it is “part of broader Social Security reform efforts.” “I hope it gets fixed,” he said.
Conservatives oppose the bill, decrying its costs.
“Even though it’s something that people think is a good cause, it shows a lack of concern for the future of our country, and I think it’s a big mistake,” said Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul. Ta.
Still, other Republicans are pressuring Schumer to bring it to a vote.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) said last month that current federal limits “impose a separate pension penalty on families across the country who spent part of their careers in public service.” . We’re talking about police officers, firefighters, teachers, and other public servants who are punished for their contributions to their communities. ”
He predicted that the bill would be passed.
We asked economists to answer commonly Googled questions about Social Security in the United States.
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