Biden Signs Bill Giving Millions Of People Higher Social Security Payments. Here’s Who Gets Them.

Around three million retired public workers will receive increased Social Security benefits after President Joe Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act on Sunday.

The bill paves the way for retired police officers, firefighters, teachers, nurses, and others who collect pension income to receive increases in their Social Security payments, CNBC reported. The Social Security Fairness Act repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), which — for more than 40 years — reduced Social Security benefits for public sector workers and their spouses who receive a pension or disability benefits from a job where Social Security payroll taxes were not withheld.

“By signing this bill, we’re extending Social Security benefits for millions of teachers, nurses, and other public employees and their spouses and survivors,” Biden said. “That means an estimated average of $360 per month increase.”

The president added that around 2.5 million Americans will receive a lump-sum payment to make up for a shortfall in benefits they should have received last year. The Social Security Administration (SSA) said in a statement on Monday that it is “evaluating how to implement” the bill signed by Biden and “will provide more information as soon as available.”

The bill will add $196 billion to the federal deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office, Fox Business reported. Critics of the bill, which was passed by Congress with bipartisan support, argue that it will only cause more issues for Social Security in the future. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said that the Social Security Fairness Act unfairly benefits some workers while creating more of a burden that others will have to pick up.

“Let’s be crystal clear: this bill would increase unfairness in how Social Security benefits are calculated,” Grassley said on the Senate floor last month.

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The WEP reduced Social Security benefits for workers with a public pension if they also held a job in the private sector. The WEP was crafted to prevent public sector workers from “double-dipping” from a government pension and Social Security, according to Fox Business. The GPO, meanwhile, reduced Social Security benefits for spouses, widows, and widowers who have their own government pensions.

Those who called for the repeal of the WEP and GPO argue that public sector employees who had their Social Security benefits reduced were not receiving “the full Social Security benefits they’ve earned.”

Biden acknowledged that the Social Security system needs more work and argued that the “wealthiest Americans [must] begin to pay their fair share so it’s able to be maintained and so much more.”

More changes to Social Security could be coming shortly as Congress’ timeline to implement major Social Security reform continues to shrink. According to the SSA, the program’s trust fund reserves will be depleted by 2035, meaning if Congress doesn’t act, retirees will only receive 83% of their full benefits after 2035.