Social Security benefits could go up for 3 million after Congress passes bill

A bill more than 20 years in the making to increase Social Security benefits for millions was overwhelmingly passed by the U.S. Senate shortly after midnight on Saturday.

The bill, called the Social Security Fairness Act, restores full Social Security benefits for teachers, law enforcement officers, firefighters and other public servants by repealing two other pieces of legislation — the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset — that had long reduced those benefits.

The bill was authored by Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Susan Collins, R-Maine. It received a vote of 76-20 in the Senate.

Passed overwhelmingly by the U.S. House last month, it now goes to President Joe Biden for a signature.

“This is a victory for thousands of teachers, first responders, and public servants in Maine, who through service to their communities have been forced to forego their earned retirement benefits,” Collins wrote in a statement. “I thank my colleagues for the overwhelming support this legislation has received, as it will help millions of Americans retire with dignity and receive the Social Security benefits they earned through years of work.”

For Brown, who lost re-election in November against incoming Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno, a Republican, passage of the bill he long championed constituted something of a last hurrah.

In his floor speech in the Senate, Brown cited the case of an Ohio special needs school bus driver who drove 200 miles a day for more than 40 years, according to Cleveland.com.

He said Fairland Local Schools driver Barbara Ward got her hosbuand’s $2,100 monthly Social Security survivor’s benefits after he died 10 years ago, but the payments were cut to $500 a month after she retired with her own pension because of one of the provisions the bill repeals.

“They earned that Social Security, they paid into it,” said Brown, cleveland.com reported. “Over and over, Americans like that bus driver have watched corporations get tax cuts and Wall Street get bailouts. All these workers are asking for is what they have earned. It’s an issue that has a huge impact on a worker’s life, but it doesn’t get enough attention in Washington.”

The National Education Association quickly released a statement on Saturday celebrating the bill’s passage.

“Public service workers have been waiting 40 years for this wrong to be righted, and we are grateful that members of Congress, in both the House and now the Senate, put aside partisan politics t ocome together and pass the Social Security Fairness Act,” wrote National Education Association President Becky Pringle.