Senate Launches Final Effort to Expand Social Security Benefits to Millions
WASHINGTON– The Senate is working to get a vote on legislation that would provide comprehensive social security benefits to millions, paving the way for potential passage in the final days of the lame-duck Congress.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday he would begin the process of a final vote on the bill, known as Social Security Fairness Actwhich would eliminate policies that currently limit Social Security benefits for about 2.8 million people.
Schumer said the bill would “ensure that Americans are not wrongly denied their well-deserved Social Security benefits simply because they chose at some point to pursue a career in public service.”
The bill passed the House following a bipartisan vote, and a Senate version of the bill introduced last year gained 62 cosponsors. But the bill still needs the support of at least 60 senators to pass Congress. He would then head to President Biden.
At least one Republican senator who signed similar legislation last year, Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana, said he was still “wondering” whether to vote for the bill next week.
“Nothing is ever paid, so whether it’s additional debt, I don’t know,” he said.
Decades in the making, the bill would repeal two federal policies — the Windfall Elimination Clause and the Government Pension Offset — that largely reduce payments to two groups of Social Security recipients: people who also receive a pension from a job that is not covered by social security. Security and surviving spouses of Social Security recipients who receive their own pension from the government.
The bill would add even more pressure on Social Security Trust Fundsalready estimated would not be able to pay full benefits starting in 2035. That would add about $195 billion to federal deficits over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget also estimates that if enacted, the policy would accelerate the Social Security program’s insolvency date by about six months and reduce lifetime Social Security benefits by an additional $25,000 for a typical dual-income couple retiring in 2033.
Senator John Thune, the no. 2 Republican leader, acknowledged that the policy has strong bipartisan support, but said some Republicans also want to see it “fixed in the context of a broader Social Security reform effort.”
Conservatives opposed the bill, denouncing its cost.
“Even for something that people consider a good cause, it shows a lack of concern for the future of the country, so I think it would be a big mistake,” said Sen. Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky.
Still, other Republicans pushed Schumer to put it up for a vote.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said last month that current federal limitations “penalize families across the country who have worked in public service for part of their career with a separate pension.” We’re talking about police officers, firefighters, teachers and other public servants who are punished for serving their communities.
He predicted the bill would pass.
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