At the start of 2025, during President Joe Biden’s final weeks in office, lawmakers pushed forward with last-minute major legislation that provides Social Security benefit increases to certain public pensioners.
The Social Security Fairness Act was passed with an overwhelming bipartisan majority in both the House and Senate, and Biden signed it into law on Jan. 5, 2025.
Now, several senators are calling on the Social Security Administration to reconsider what they say is a flaw in the law’s implementation: retroactive payments limited to six months rather than one year for certain beneficiaries.
The Social Security Fairness Act eliminated two provisions — the Windfall Elimination Provision, or WEP, and the Government Pension Offset, or GPO — that reduced or, in some cases, eliminated Social Security benefits for individuals who receive pension income from jobs where Social Security payroll taxes were not paid. However, those individuals also have other income from jobs that paid into the program, which made them eligible for benefits.
The law affects more than 2.8 million people, according to the Social Security Administration, including teachers, firefighters and police officers in certain states. Relatives of affected workers — specifically spouses and surviving spouses — also received adjusted benefits under the provisions.
