Senate Passes Bill to Curb Contentious Social Security Rules

The Social Security Fairness Act, which passed by a vote of 76 to 20, ensures public sector workers and their families can receive full Social Security benefits by repealing the two penalties that reduced benefits for nearly 3 million Americans.

“Today is a day to celebrate!” added Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, late Friday in a statement. “State and local workers in Louisiana deserve the full Social Security benefits they’ve earned. Now they will get it. This was a long overdue step. Now we must save Social Security from insolvency in nine years for every American.”

The Senate vote “delivers us to the doorstep of a long-sought goal — to restore fairness to a system that has worked incredibly well for nearly 90 years to provide American workers with basic financial security,” Max Richtman, president and CEO of National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, added late Friday in another statement.

The Committee said it supports the bill “because it removes an unfairness in the system by allowing teachers, firefighters, and police officers (among others) and their families to collect Social Security benefits. Our members and supporters have made it clear that they want the WEP & GPO repealed.”