By Sébastien Kraft

President Joe Biden on Sunday signed into law the Social Security Fairness Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation spearheaded by former Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va.-7th District, and Garret Graves, R-La.-6th District, to assist first responders, public servants and their spouses. 

The act passed the U.S. House of Representatives in November and made it through the U.S. Senate at the last minute Dec. 20. The law eliminates two key provisions added to the Social Security Act in 1983: the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset.

Currently, with the new law yet to take effect, the Windfall Elimination Provision reduces the earned Social Security benefits of individuals who receive a public pension from jobs that do not fall under the purview of Social Security. For instance, educators who work part-time or during the summer in jobs covered by Social Security but do not earn benefits in their public school jobs see their benefits dramatically reduced.  

The Government Pension Offset alters benefits for spouses of various federal, state and local public workers – notably police officers, firefighters and educators – if those employees are not covered by Social Security. This offset provision also cuts by two-thirds the benefits received by surviving spouses who also collect a government pension, which often cancels out the benefits entirely.  

According to a news release from Spanberger, over 50,000 Virginians and 2.5 million Americans nationwide will be impacted by the Social Security Fairness Act.

“If we can get the WEP and GPO done in the Senate … the sense of joy I will have at that because of what it means for my constituents,” Spanberger told InsideNoVa in a Dec. 5 interview, “but also because of the procedural gymnastics we did to get that through the House in the first place.”

Spanberger said residents of Virginia’s 7th Congressional District can expect to profit from the new law.

“Oh my goodness, there are so many people across the 7th District who are impacted by the WEP and GPO,” Spanberger told InsideNoVa. “Depending upon the retiree, it would ensure that … for some people, it’s over $1,000 a month of Social Security that they earned as an earned benefit that they would actually receive.”

Spanberger said the bill would also benefit senior citizens who suffer from food shortages.

“One of the most tragic things of the [Congressional Budget Office] assessment of it takes into consideration the fact that actually passing our bill and removing the WEP and GPO would remove many seniors from food security programs,” the congresswoman said. “Right now, they’re pushed into impoverished circumstances by virtue of their public service – frankly, it’s just unconscionable.”

Spanberger and Graves filed a discharge petition last September, which led to the Social Security Fairness Act receiving the required 218 votes to force a vote in the House in November. Neither of the two representatives sought reelection in November, with Spanberger opting to run for Virginia governor this year and Graves stepping down after a new congressional map approved by the GOP-controlled Louisiana state legislature made his 6th District significantly more Democratic.  

The congresswoman further expressed her thoughts in Sunday’s release, stressing the severity of the prior status quo.

“Today, we put an end to this theft,” Spanberger said in the release. “Today at the White House, I watched President Biden sign my Social Security Fairness Act into law with thousands of Virginians on my mind — every police officer, firefighter, federal employee, and grieving spouse I’ve heard from who has long been denied their full benefits.”