Senator Collins co-authored the bill and Senator King was a co-sponsor. The bill would restore Social Security benefits to firefighters, police officers, and teachers.
WASHINGTON, DC – The Senate passed a bill early Saturday that would increase Social Security payments to millions of people, pushing a long-standing priority for former public servants through Congress in one of the last bills of the year.
The bipartisan bill, which will be introduced next to President Joe Biden, would benefit about 3 million people who receive pensions from jobs in the federal, state, and local governments or public sector jobs such as teachers, firefighters, and police officers. It would eliminate long-standing cuts in Social Security benefits for people. Supporters argue that while the Social Security Fairness Act would correct decades of disparities, it would place additional strain on the Social Security Trust Fund.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, co-authored the bill with Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.
“This is a victory for the thousands of teachers, first responders and public servants in Maine who have been forced to give up the retirement benefits they earned through service to their communities,” Collins said in a statement Saturday. “I would like to thank my colleagues for their overwhelming contributions.'' Please support this bill because it will help millions of Americans retire with dignity and receive the Social Security benefits they earned through years of work. ”
Maine independent Sen. Angus King was a co-sponsor of the bill. “Firefighters, police officers, teachers, and other public servants across Maine put the well-being of their communities first, and it is past time for them to receive the benefits they have rightfully earned,” King said in a statement. ” he said.
The bill has been decades in the making, but it was passed in the final minutes after lawmakers gathered in the final weeks of their stay in Washington before Congress reconvenes next year. All Senate Democrats and 27 Republicans voted in favor of the bill, making the final count 76-20.
“Millions of retired teachers, firefighters, letter carriers, and state and local employees have been waiting for this moment for decades. Public retirees will be stripped of their hard-earned Social Security benefits. That won't happen again,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
The bill includes two provisions (the windfall elimination provision and the government (Pension Offset Clause) will be abolished.
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“Social Security is the foundation of our middle class. It's the retirement security that Americans pay for and earn throughout their lives,” said Sen. Brown. Sen. Brown has been pushing this proposal for years, but will leave Congress after losing re-election.
He added that the current restrictions “make no sense”. These workers serve the public. They protect our communities. They teach our children. They pay into Social Security just like anyone else. ”
People whose Social Security benefits are currently reduced due to exceptions will soon see their monthly payments increase. But these increased payments would also add an estimated $195 billion to the federal deficit over 10 years, the report said. Congressional Budget Office.
social security trust fund It is already estimated that the program will no longer be able to pay its full benefits starting in 2035, and the changes would bring the program's bankruptcy date forward by about six months. According to the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the typical working couple retiring in 2033 will see an additional $25,000 in benefits cut over their lifetime.
Many opponents of the bill acknowledge that the current cuts are unfair to public service retirees, but said they cannot support the bill when the entire program faces challenges.
“Rather than doing this on a sustainable basis, we bowed to the pressures of the moment,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, who opposed the bill.
The policy change would also create more work for the Social Security Administration, at a time when its staffing levels are at the lowest level in 50 years. The agency currently has about 56,400 employees, the lowest level since 1972, an agency spokeswoman said. Serving more people than ever before. The government funding bill, also passed early Saturday morning, did not include increased funding for the agency, which is currently on a hiring freeze.
Still, the bill's Republican supporters said they have a rare opportunity to address what they say are unfair provisions in federal law that harm retired public employees.
“They earned these benefits. This is an unjust and unfair punishment,” said Sen. Collins.
The bill's Republican sponsors also said they would recommit to major changes to Social Security. But President-elect Donald Trump said he would not touch benefits even as his administration considers deep budget cuts in other areas.
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Still, Senate Republicans are working on ideas that would improve the program's financial base while also necessarily cutting benefits. Sen. Rand Paul, one of the fiscal hawks, promoted a proposal Friday to gradually raise the Social Security retirement age to 70, but only three votes voted in favor of adding the provision to the bill. I couldn't get it.
“It's really important that we get this right and have the courage to fix Social Security over the next few years,” Tillis said. “We will regret the day we don’t make it.”
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