On Sunday, January 5, President Biden signed into law the Social Security Fairness Act, a bill rescinding two provisions that reduced millions of people's social security payments.
Enacted in 1977, the Government Pension Offset reduced social security benefits for spouses, widows, and widowers who also receive income from personal government pensions. Six years later, the Windfall Elimination Provision was enacted, reducing benefits for workers who receive pension or disability benefits from work outside of social security. These two provisions were intended to prevent workers from “double-dipping” into their retirement benefits.
Out of the millions of workers affected by this new law, public workers, such as teachers, firefighters, and police officers, are the main beneficiaries.
"After 40 years of being treated like second-class citizens, a wrong has finally been righted, and millions of retirees can afford to retire with dignity — and with the Social Security benefits they earned and paid into," said Edward Kelly, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters.