By Michael Martz
Retired Norfolk police Sgt. Chuck Flowers was watching C-SPAN instead of football on Sunday afternoon, as President Joe Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act into law, with former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, standing a few feet away next to Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
Flowers, who is also president of the City of Norfolk Retired Employees Association, said the president’s signature ended a long effort to eliminate provisions of federal law that reduced Social Security benefits for police and other retired employees who worked jobs outside of their public service and paid into the national retirement system.
“I know Abigail was a big part of it,” he said in a telephone interview on Monday. “It’s real good for us. A lot of people could use the money.”
Biden said the new law will boost retirement benefits for affected public employees by an average of $360 a week and deliver retirees a lump-sum payment to make up for the money they should have received in 2024.
“Today is a victory for the dignity of work and the dignity of workers,” the president said during the televised White House ceremony.
One question is, how much will that victory mean for Spanberger’s quest for the Democratic nomination for governor this year and potential showdown with Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in November? Both are seeking to become the first woman to lead the state in its more than 400-year history.
“I don’t see how it could hurt her,” said Flowers, 69, who retired from the city police department in 2005 after 30 years of service.
Spanberger, who ended her three-term career in Congress last week to run for governor, touted the importance of the new law for retired police officers, firefighters, public school teachers, federal employees and even rural mail carriers.
“Every Virginian who paid into Social Security should be able to count on their full earned benefits to support them in retirement,” she said in a release by her campaign, now that she no longer has a congressional office. “This firm belief — and the stories of Virginians long impacted by this injustice — strengthened my resolve to bring Republicans and Democrats together on Capitol Hill, force a long-overdue vote on the U.S. House floor, and finally get this done.”
More than 50,000 Virginians are expected to benefit from the repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, which Congress adopted in 1983 to prevent retired public employees or widowed spouses from collecting benefits both from Social Security and their public pensions. In Virginia, the new law is expected to most benefit retired police, firefighters and federal employees, who represent significant blocs of voters in an off-year statewide election.
“It’s a tangible success with groups that she needs to turn out if she’s going to win,” said Bob Holsworth, a veteran Richmond political scientist and observer of Virginia politics.
But while support from those groups should help Spanberger’s campaign, Holsworth said she will still have to take detailed stands on state issues she has not directly addressed before, such as the state’s right-to-work law, which protects employees represented by unions from having to pay union dues. Earle-Sears, who supports the state’s right-to-work law, has pressured Spanberger to take a clear stand on the issue.
“This is a notable achievement for her that should serve her well in the campaign,” Holsworth said. “But in and of itself, it won’t drive the election.”
She co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., who stepped down from Congress this year after losing his seat in political redistricting. Graves was part of a Louisiana delegation, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., that strongly supported repealing the two provisions because of the effect on Social Security benefits for their constituents.