The Senate passed the Social Security Fairness Act to deliver higher Social Security benefits to millions of public sector retirees.

The bill now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk for a signature after the Senate cleared the legislation just after midnight on Saturday by a vote of 76-20.

The legislation to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset has been reintroduced each Congress for decades but had not received a vote in either chamber until just this year. The House previously passed the bill in November.

The WEP and GPO are two provisions of Social Security that reduce or sometimes eliminate benefits for certain federal retirees and other public servants, as well as their surviving spouses. Those impacted by WEP and GPO total about 2.4 million, including federal annuitants in the Civil Service Retirement System, along with firefighters, teachers, law enforcement officers and many others.

The WEP reduces benefits for annuitants who worked in both a public sector position not covered by Social Security, as well as a job that’s covered by Social Security, usually in the private sector. The GPO reduces Social Security for surviving spouses who also worked in the public sector. The two-thirds reduction by GPO often results in a full elimination of the benefit.

The vote on the Social Security Fairness Act came shortly after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer committed to taking action on the bill at a labor rally last week. Leaders and members from unions and other labor organizations attended the rally to push for a Senate floor vote on the longstanding bill.

Many have called the WEP and GPO provisions unfair to public servants. Advocates said the legislation will ensure all public sector retirees receive the Social Security benefits they earned during their career. Over the years, the bill has gained strong bipartisan support and the backing of many organizations and unions. John Hatton, the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association’s staff vice president of policy and programs, called the Senate’s action this week “a long time coming.”

“This is something we’ve been working on for 40 years,” Hatton told The Federal Drive with Tom Temin on Tuesday. “It’s been penalizing people simply because they’ve earned their government pension and then they earn, separately through private sector work, their Social Security benefits. Our members who are CSRS retirees have never understood it. They have always been upset by it. They view it as theft, as do we, and that goes for the firefighters, police officers, the teachers, the municipal workers around the country, who are impacted by this as well.”

The legislation has gained some criticism as well. Republicans who voted against the bill argued that it would have negative impacts on Social Security’s solvency, and called for reforms rather than a full repeal of WEP and GPO.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan organization, has said that removing WEP and GPO would advance Social Security’s insolvency by about six months and potentially lead to across-the-board cuts for Social Security beneficiaries. The organization has called for keeping WEP and GPO, and reforming the two Social Security provisions instead.

“The current system overpays some beneficiaries while underpaying others — thoughtful reforms such as those proposed by President Obama or the late Congressman Sam Johnson (R-Texas) could fix this while improving trust fund solvency,” the committee wrote in a Dec. 12 blog post. “We encourage lawmakers to pursue solutions to Social Security’s looming insolvency and not further worsen the program’s finances.”

Lawmakers who have championed WEP and GPO repeal for decades celebrated the Senate’s passage of the bill.

“There is no doubt that Congress has taken too long to address this inequity, but I am grateful to the diligent bipartisan work of my colleagues to help us finally get this over the finish line,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said in a statement early Saturday morning. “This legislation takes care of Alaskans who have dedicated years of service to our communities, serving in integral roles such as teachers, firefighters, and police officers. Hardworking public servants should not be denied the benefits that they paid for because of their career choices, and I’m relieved that this longstanding injustice has been remedied.”

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