Social Security Bill to Expand Benefits is in the Hands of the Senate
By Kate Gibson

 

Efforts to get the Senate to vote on a bill to expand Social Security benefits are intensifying, as the House-passed  Social Security Fairness Act  enjoys rare  bipartisan support  but has only a short window of time — six weeks — to be passed.

"We're guardedly optimistic," Shannon Benton executive director of The Senior Citizens League, or TSCL, an advocacy group devoted to protecting retirement benefits, said. "There is so much momentum, if it doesn't get passed now, a lot of people will lose hope."

Decades in the making, the legislation would eliminate a provision that reduces Social Security payments to some retirees who also collect a pension from jobs that aren't covered by the retirement program, such as state and federal workers including teachers, police officers and US postal workers. It would also end a second provision that reduces Social Security benefits for those workers' surviving spouses and family members.

Various forms of the measure have been introduced over the years, but like many legislative proposals, they have failed to get enacted.

"I've been working at the league 25 years, and I don't remember ever not having a version," said Benton.

Introduced by Reps Abigail Spanberger, D-Va, and Garret Graves, R-La, the bill was passed by the House in a 327-75 vote late Tuesday night, after a last-ditch effort to derail it by members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus failed.

The WEP impacts about  2 million  Social Security beneficiaries and the GPO nearly  800,000  retirees.

What happens next to the Social Security Fairness Act?

Despite having 62 cosponsors in the Senate, the bill still needs to be brought up for a vote by the chamber's leadership, and soon.

The bill "dies December 31, at the end of the second session of Congress," Benton said. "Not only would this bill have to start from scratch, but a new person would have to introduce it."

The Republican and Democratic lawmakers who introduced the measures in their respective bodies either did not run for reelection or lost their reelection bid, as was the case with Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, who introduced the bill in the Senate.

If the Social Security Fairness Act comes up for a vote in the Senate, it's expected to pass, having already secured 62 co-sponsors — surpassing the majority needed to send it to President Joe Biden for his signature.

If signed into law, the changes would be effective for benefits payable after December 2023… - CBS