President Joe Biden on Sunday signed the Social Security Fairness Act into law, putting additional strain on the program’s finances.
The law itself will repeal 1983’s Windfall Elimination Provision and eliminate the Government Pension Offset, both of which reduced Social Security benefits for certain beneficiaries including some government retirees.
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“Social Security is the bedrock of financial security for retirees and surviving spouses and for millions of Americans with disabilities,” the president said Sunday in the White House’s East Room. “A law that existed denied millions of Americans access to the full Social Security benefits they earned by thousands of dollars a year.”
Biden noted that 2.5 million people will receive lump sum payments “of thousands of dollars to make up for the shortfall and the benefits they should have gotten.”
“When I came to office, I promised I’d always protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid,” Biden closed. “That’s the promise we’ve kept, even in the face of proposals that cut or weaken these programs that millions of Americans count on. I know there’s a lot more work to do.”
The Congressional Budget Office and opponents of the legislation say the move, without any new inlays, will actively speed up the Social Security fund’s 2033 projected insolvency date by an additional six months.
There were some questions about whether Biden would indeed sign the bill into law or not. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced several questions about the timeline during Friday’s briefing but declined to say when the president would sign the bill into law.
White House officials discounted criticism of the legislation, instead choosing to highlight how Biden’s move makes him the “first president in more than twenty years to expand Social Security benefits.”
“The bill he is signing today will expand benefits by hundreds of dollars per month for more than 2.5 million Americans. As President, he saved the retirement pensions of two million union workers when he signed the Butch Lewis Act and has protected retirees from receiving junk retirement advice,” the White House said in a statement. “He has stood up to reckless Republican attempts to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid — instead fighting to expand Social Security benefits for those who need it most, strengthening Social Security and Medicare by asking the wealthiest to pay their fair share, and investing in a well-staffed Social Security Administration to ensure hard-working Americans can access the benefits they’ve earned.”
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You can watch Biden’s remarks in full below.
