President Joe Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act into law Sunday afternoon, the final step needed for nearly 3 million public sector employees, retirees, spouses and surviving spouses to begin receiving larger monthly Social Security payments.
The legislation repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset — two longstanding provisions of Social Security that reduce or eliminate benefits for certain government retirees, including Civil Service Retirement System annuitants, as well as teachers, firefighters, police officers and others who have worked in a public sector position.
“The bill I’m signing today is about a simple proposition: Americans who have worked hard all their lives to earn an honest living should be able to retire with economic security and dignity,” Biden said at a bill signing ceremony held Sunday at the White House. “The law that existed denied millions of Americans access to the full Social Security benefits they earned by thousands of dollars a year.”