Biden Likely to Sign Social Security Fairness Act on Jan. 6

/contrib/content/uploads/sites/415/2021/02/Social_Security_Cards_Money_640x640.jpg

The Social Security Fairness Act, which would repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) provisions of Social Security, is on President Joe Biden's desk and he plans to sign the bill into law on Jan. 6, a national police officers' organization says.

The National Fraternal Order of Police, which has been a vocal proponent of the bill, posted Monday on its Facebook page that Biden plans to sign the bill into law on Jan. 6. The group, which has more than 377,000 members, said Monday that president-elect Donald Trump has endorsed the bill.

The police group did not immediately respond to requests to confirm the details of the Facebook post.

The full Senate passed the bill, H.R. 82, on Dec. 20. The bill passed the House by a 327-75 vote on Nov. 12.

The bill hit Biden's desk Friday. Biden has until Jan. 8 to sign the bill. After 10 days, excluding Sundays, a bill "automatically becomes law (if Congress is in session) or not (if Congress adjourns before the 10 days — the 'Pocket Veto')," explained Martha Shedden, president and co-founder of the National Association of Registered Social Security Analysts.

The 118th Congress will adjourn, and the 119th will be sworn in, on Jan. 3.

"Of course, he [Biden] can also veto the bill and send it back to Congress where the House could attempt to override the veto," Shedden said.

Shedden added that her group is "in the process of updating our RSSA Roadmap software and education and training program for 2025. We will be ready to address the changes to WEP and GPO if it is signed into law."

H.R. 82 was originally sponsored by Reps. Garret Graves, R-La., and Abigail Spanberger, D-Va.

"Finally, Congress showed up for the millions of Americans — police officers, firefighters, teachers, federal employees, and other local and state public servants — who worked a second job to care for their families or began a second career to afford to live," the lawmakers said in a statement after Senate passage. "Congress showed up for the hundreds of thousands of widows and widowers who are denied their spouses’ Social Security benefits while grappling with their loss."

The Social Security Administration issued a statement on Dec. 21 about how to field questions before and after the bill is signed into law.

The Social Security Fairness act, H.R. 82 "concerning Windfall Elimination Program and Government Pension Offset has not been signed into law. It would eliminate the reduction of Social Security benefits while entitled to public pensions," SSA states.

"At this time, the Social Security Administration is evaluating how to implement it if it is signed into law. We will provide more information on our website, ssa.gov as soon as it is available. If you are already entitled, you do not need to take any action at this time except to verify that we have your current mailing address and direct deposit information. If you are receiving a public pension and are now interested in filing for benefits, you may file online at ssa.gov or schedule an appointment.”

What the Social Security Fairness Act Does

The GPO applies to those eligible for spousal or survivors' benefits, while the WEP applies to those eligible for their own Social Security benefits. Congress enacted legislation reducing Social Security benefits through GPO and WEP in 1977 and 1983, respectively.

Individuals who receive a pension based on work for federal, state or local government not withholding Social Security taxes may have had their Social Security benefits reduced through these two provisions.

But eliminating the GPO and WEP without also introducing reforms to protect benefit parity is likely to result in some workers who have split their time between non-covered government jobs and covered private-sector jobs getting substantially higher retirement benefits than other workers with essentially equal earnings histories, according to some experts.