WEP and GPO Repealed Pending Biden’s Signature - AMAC & CBS MoneyWatch
The Social Security Fairness Act passed the Senate 76-20 over the weekend. The GOP was split evenly 20 for and 20 against the bill. It repeals two federal policies — the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) — that reduce Social Security payments to 2 million and 800,000 retirees, respectively. The affected are those who also collect pensions from state and federal jobs that aren’t covered by Social Security, including teachers, police officers and U.S. postal workers. The bill also ends a second provision that reduces Social Security benefits for those workers’ surviving spouses and family members. On the downside, passage means Social Security insolvency moves closer by about six months. Once President Biden signs the law, the effective date involves Social Security payments for months after December 2023, according to the text of the bill. Read the full CBS MoneyWatch article by Kim Gibson here.