华盛顿-总统乔·拜登周日计划将一项措施签署成为法律增加社会保障支出对于现任和前任公职人员，影响将近300万人他们从教师、消防队员、警察和其他公共服务工作中领取养老金。
支持者表示，社会保障公平法案纠正了几十年来的不平等，尽管它也会给面临迫在眉睫的破产危机的社会保障信托基金带来压力。
该法案废除了两项条款——意外收入消除条款和政府养老金抵消—那个限制社会保障福利对于接受者，如果他们从其他来源获得退休金，包括州或地方政府的公共退休计划。
国会研究服务部估计，2023年12月，有745，679人，约占所有社会保障受益人的1%，他们的福利因政府养老金抵消而减少。约有210万人，或约占所有受益人的3%，受到意外收入取消条款的影响。
这国会预算办公室在9月份估计，到2025年12月，取消意外收入取消条款将使受影响受益人的月支付额平均增加360美元。根据CBO的数据，结束政府养老金抵消将在2025年12月为38万名基于在世配偶获得福利的受益人平均增加700美元的每月福利。390 000人或未亡配偶领取寡妇或鳏夫抚恤金的平均增加额为1 190美元。
这些金额将随着社会保障定期生活费用调整而增加。
变化是从2024年1月起支付，这意味着社会保障管理局将欠追溯支付。国会通过的措施社会保障专员称“应在必要的范围内调整基本保险金额，以考虑”法律的变化。目前还不清楚这将如何发生，或者受影响的人是否必须采取任何行动。
国际消防员协会主席爱德华·凯利说，全国各地的消防员“很高兴看到这一变化——我们纠正了40年来的错误。”凯利说，这项政策“对于那些向社会保障缴纳自己的配额，但却成为政府养老金体系受害者的消防队员的遗属来说，要恶劣得多。”
IAFF大约有32万会员，这还不包括将从这一变化中受益的数十万退休人员。
凯利说:“现在，工资很低的消防队员现在可以真正退休了。”。
作为俄亥俄州参议员多年来推动该提案的谢罗德·布朗在11月失去了连任竞选。美国州、县、市雇员工会联合会主席李·桑德斯感谢布朗的倡导。
桑德斯在一份声明中说:“超过200万名公共服务工作者将最终能够获得他们花费职业生涯支付的社会保障福利。”"许多人在服务了一辈子后，终于可以享受退休生活了。"
全国教育协会主席贝基·普林格尔说，这部法律是“一个历史性的胜利，将改善教育工作者、急救人员、邮政工作人员和其他为社区公共服务奉献生命的人的生活。”
尽管缅因州参议员苏珊·科林斯等一些共和党人支持这项立法，但包括南达科他州参议员约翰·图恩、肯塔基州参议员兰德·保罗和北卡罗来纳州参议员汤姆·蒂利斯在内的其他人投了反对票。“我们屈服于一时的压力，而不是在可持续的基础上这样做，”蒂利斯上个月告诉美联社。
尽管如此，该法案的共和党支持者表示，这是一个难得的机会，可以解决他们所说的联邦法律中伤害公共服务退休人员的不公平条款。
社会保障的未来已经成为一个首要的政治问题，也是2024年大选的一个主要争论点。关于7250万人们，包括退休人员、残疾人和儿童，领取社会保障福利。
新法带来的政策变化将增加社会保障管理局的行政工作，该局的人员编制已经达到几十年来的最低水平。该机构目前正处于招聘冻结期，拥有约56，645名员工，这是50多年来的最低水平，尽管它为更多的人服务.
年度社会保障和医疗保险受托人去年5月发布的报告该计划的信托基金将无法从2035年开始支付全部福利。新法将把该计划的破产日期提前约半年。___
美联社作家斯蒂芬格罗夫斯促成了这一报告。
Biden signs bill boosting Social Security payments for millions
WASHINGTON --PresidentJoe Bidenon Sunday plans to sign into law a measure thatboosts Social Security paymentsfor current and former public employees, affectingnearly 3 million peoplewho receive pensions from their time as teachers, firefighters, police officers and in other public service jobs.
Advocates say the Social Security Fairness Act rights a decades-old disparity, though it will also put strain on Social Security Trust Funds, which face a looming insolvency crisis.
The bill rescinds two provisions — theWindfall Elimination Provisionand theGovernment Pension Offset— thatlimit Social Security benefitsfor recipients if they get retirement payments from other sources, including public retirement programs from a state or local government.
The Congressional Research Service estimated that in December 2023, there were 745,679 people, about 1% of all Social Security beneficiaries, who had their benefits reduced by the Government Pension Offset. About 2.1 million people, or about 3% of all beneficiaries, were affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision.
TheCongressional Budget Officeestimated in September that eliminating the Windfall Elimination Provision would boost monthly payments to the affected beneficiaries by an average of $360 by December 2025. Ending the Government Pension Offset would increase monthly benefits in December 2025 by an average of $700 for 380,000 recipients getting benefits based on living spouses, according to the CBO. The increase would be an average of $1,190 for 390,000 or surviving spouses getting a widow or widower benefit.
Those amounts would increase over time with Social Security’s regular cost-of-living adjustments.
The change is to payments from January 2024 and beyond, meaning the Social Security Administration would owe back-dated payments.The measure as passed by Congresssays the Social Security commissioner "shall adjust primary insurance amounts to the extent necessary to take into account” changes in the law. It's not immediately clear how this will happen or whether people affected will have to take any action.
Edward Kelly, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, said firefighters across the country are “excited to see the change — we've righted a 40-year wrong.” Kelly said the policy was “far more egregious for surviving spouses of firefighters who paid their own quotas into Social Security but were victimized by the government pension system.”
The IAFF has roughly 320,000 members, which does not include hundreds of thousands of retirees who will benefit from the change.
“Now firefighters who get paid very little can now afford to actually retire," Kelly said.
Sherrod Brown, who as an Ohio senator pushed for the proposal for years, lost his reelection bid in November. Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees labor union, thanked Brown for his advocacy.
“Over two million public service workers will finally be able to access the Social Security benefits they spent their careers paying into," Saunders said in a statement. "Many will finally be able to enjoy retirement after a lifetime of service.”
National Education Association President Becky Pringle said the law is “a historic victory that will improve the lives of educators, first responders, postal workers and others who dedicate their lives to public service in their communities.”
And while some Republicans such as Maine Sen. Susan Collins supported the legislation, others, including Sens. John Thune of South Dakota, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, voted against it. “We caved to the pressure of the moment instead of doing this on a sustainable basis,” Tillis told The Associated Press last month.
Still, Republican supporters of the bill said there was a rare opportunity to address what they described as an unfair section of federal law that hurts public service retirees.
The future of Social Security has become a top political issue and was a major point of contention in the 2024 election. About72.5 millionpeople, including retirees, disabled people and children, receive Social Security benefits.
The policy changes from the new law will heap more administrative work on the Social Security Administration, which is already at its lowest staffing level in decades. The agency, currently under a hiring freeze, has a staff of about 56,645 — the lowest level in over 50 years even as itserves more people than ever.
The annual Social Security and Medicare trusteesreport released last Maysaid the program’s trust fund will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2035. The new law will hasten the program’s insolvency date by about half a year. ___
Associated Press writer Stephen Groves contributed to this report.
