Today, President Joe Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act into law.
The bipartisan legislation officially repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO), unfair penalties that reduce retirement benefits for firefighters, police officers, teachers, and other public service workers.
Now, these retired public servants will no longer be penalized by the provisions, with some seeing up to a $587 increase in their monthly benefits.
IAFF General President Edward Kelly celebrated the signing of the landmark legislation.
“After 40 years of being treated like second-class citizens, a wrong has finally been righted, and millions of retirees can afford to retire with dignity – and with the Social Security benefits they earned and paid into,” he said. “Repealing the WEP/GPO has been one of my top priorities as General President.
“We never let up, and thanks to allies like FOP President Pat Yoes and AFT President Randi Weingarten, we were able to make history for America’s retired public employees,” Kelly said.
The IAFF led the fight to repeal WEP and GPO, partnering with other labor unions and members of Congress to get the bill through the House of Representatives and Senate.
“I want to thank the Social Security Fairness Act’s sponsors – Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and Garret Graves (R-LA) in the House and Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Susan Collins (R-ME) – for their steadfast support of our members throughout this entire process,” said Kelly. “They never lost sight of the mission and were critical to getting this bill done.”
To learn more about the IAFF’s work to get the Social Security Fairness Act into law, visit our website here.
