The House of Representatives approved a bipartisan bill on Tuesday that would increase social security benefits for millions of public service workers.
The chamber approved House Resolution 82, the Social Security Fairness Act, by a 327-76 margin, with 191 Democrats and 136 Republicans voting in favor. The measure now goes to the Senate.
Proponents of the bill say that nearly 2.8 million public service workers, including teachers, police officers and others in government, would be eligible for larger Social Security payments upon retirement.
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If approved, the bill would eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset for government workers. The Windfall Elimination Provision reduces the Social Security benefits of someone who also receives a public pension from a job not covered by Social Security.
The Government Pension Offset reduces spousal Social Security benefits by two-thirds of a worker's government pension.
Reps. Garret Graves, R-Louisiana, and Abigail Spanberger, D-Virginia, were among the lawmakers who sponsored the bill.
"By passing the Social Security Fairness Act, a bipartisan majority of the U.S. House of Representatives showed up for the millions of Americans — police officers, teachers, firefighters, and other local and state public servants — who worked a second job to make ends meet or began a second career to support their families after retiring from public service," Graves and Spanberger wrote in a joint statement. "A bipartisan majority of the U.S. House voted to provide a secure retirement to the hundreds of thousands of spouses, widows, and widowers who are denied their spouses’ Social Security benefits simply because they chose careers of service."
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The conservative-leaning nonprofit The Club for Growth urged lawmakers to vote against the bill, citing an increase in the government deficit.
"These two provisions are meant to preserve the integrity of the Social Security system that so many seniors depend on by ensuring that individuals and their spouses who worked in jobs that did not contribute to the Old Age and Survivor’s Insurance Trust Fund and receive pensions from those jobs do not threaten the solvency of Social Security," the group said.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill would add $195.6 billion to the deficit over the next 10 years if approved.
It must first go to the Senate during the current lame-duck session before going to the president.
