President Biden signs bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act

WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden today signed into law the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82), a landmark win for working families. The bipartisan legislation, passed decisively last month by Congress, affects millions of people who receive pensions from their time as teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public service jobs. Public service workers will now see a boost in their Social Security payments because the Social Security Fairness Act repeals the punitive and discriminatory Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) laws. 

The National Education Association was at the forefront of advocating for repealing these unjust regulations. NEA members were on hand at the White House to witness history as President Biden signed the law. 

“This is about fairness. These unjust Social Security penalties have robbed public service workers of their hard-earned benefits for far too long. They have hurt educators and their families—and damaged the education profession, making it harder to attract and retain educators. And that means students are impacted, too,” said NEA President Becky Pringle. “This historic victory will improve the lives of educators, first responders, postal workers and others who dedicate their lives to public service in their communities. NEA members fought endlessly for the repeal of these discriminative and punitive laws. It is fitting that in one of his last acts in the Oval Office, President Biden will once again sign into law a major win for working families.” 

More than 2.7 million hardworking Americans are currently affected by the WEP and GPO regulations, which slash Social Security, pension and other retirement benefits. Millions more have been penalized since the laws were enacted nearly 40 years ago. 

Repealing these unjust laws has been a decades-long priority for NEA and was made possible by the tireless advocacy of educators and other public service workers. NEA members made nearly half a million calls and sent emails to members of Congress and their staff, demanding they repeal these laws. NEA members lobbied lawmakers on the Hill and in constituent offices, sharing their personal stories of how these laws have unjustly penalized them and their families. NEA held press conferences and rallies and brought union members to Washington to urge Congress to pass the Social Security Fairness Act. 

“No matter where they’re from, what they look like, or what they do to make ends meet, everyone should be able to retire with dignity and receive the benefits they earned,” added Pringle. “We thank President Biden, Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York), Reps. Garret Graves (R-Louisiana) and Abigail Spanberger (D-Virginia) for their leadership in putting aside partisan politics and coming together to pass the Social Security Fairness Act.”