President Biden has signed a law to increase Social Security benefits for millions of retired Americans, including firefighters, police officers, and teachers on Sunday.
People who have worked hard their whole lives to earn a living honestly deserve to retire with financial security and respect, Mr. Biden said while signing the Social Security Fairness Act at the White House. This act, he explained, would provide an average $360 monthly raise for over 2.5 million Social Security beneficiaries.
That’s a major deal in many middle-class homes.
Those individuals will also receive a one-time payment worth thousands of dollars to compensate for the benefits they did not receive in 2024, according to the president.
The law barred employees with a public pension from receiving their full federal retirement benefits and reduced benefits for their spouses and their family members.
Biden is the first U.S. president in over 20 years to increase Social Security benefits,” a White House spokesperson said in a statement. “The bill he is signing today will increase monthly benefits by hundreds of dollars for more than 2.5 million Americans.
The teenager, soon to finish high school, embarked on the journey to collect donations for his charitable cause to support people with disabilities and elderly individuals, who he had seen struggle on limited fixed incomes, including his own grandmother and their elderly neighbors.
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The Social Security Fairness Act has the potential to reinstate benefits for millions of people. However, the underlying policies are still causing significant hardship for many recipients.
The bill, known as H.R. 82, went through the process in November.
Long, hard road
Efforts to increase Social Security benefits for public employees’ retirement funds have been under way for many years, with the Senate conducting its initial investigation into the issue in 2003.
Budget proposals that fail to materialize savings can increase the federal deficit over a decade.
Under the new law, the increase in benefits will be applied as of December 2023, and those who previously received partial benefits due to being ineligible for the full amount will now be eligible for full retroactive payments dating back a year.
The new Social Security law does away with the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset. These two policies combined have the effect of decreasing Social Security payments for 2.5 million retirees.
International Association of Fire Fighters General President Edward Kelly stated on Sunday that Congress “broke a promise” when it implemented the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset.
“We’re fulfilling today the promise our country made to these brave men and women, and they will now receive the full Social Security benefits they have worked hard to earn and have paid for,” Kelly said.
What can I expect in terms of additional benefits?
Signing off the Windfall Elimination Provision in September would result in an average monthly increase of $360 for affected Social Security recipients by December 2025, according to the Associated Press.
Removing the Government Pension Offset (GPO) would raise benefits for individuals drawing on a spouse’s Social Security benefits by about $700 a month, affecting 380,000 recipients who base their benefits on their spouse’s income. For the 390,000 survivors receiving a widow or widower benefit, the increase would be approximately $1,190.
Millions of Americans were unfairly denied the full Social Security benefits they worked for, according to President Biden, who signed a new law into effect.
Keeping that in mind, the fresh legislation doesn’t touch on the “enormous financial burden on the trust funds and the complex process that the Social Security Administration will have to follow,” said Martha Shedden, president of the National Association of Registered Social Security Analysts.
It’s examining how to put the plan into action. Recipients don’t need to do anything other than check that the government has their current mailing address and direct deposit information on file. Most people can verify that online using their “my Social Security account,” eliminating the need to call or visit the office.
