Police group praises bill to give public sector retirees full Social Security benefits: 'deserved and earned'

The Senate on Saturday overwhelmingly approved the Social Security Fairness Act, bipartisan legislation to repeal two little-understood rules: the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). The legislation effectively revokes 1980 rules that reduced benefits for public employees receiving state pensions.

The bill was sent to President Biden. 

In the House, 327 members, and 76 Senators voted to stand with around 3 million retired firefighters, police officers, teachers, and other public sector workers who also receive pension payments, Mick McHale, president of the National Association of Police Organizations, told Fox News Digital. 

Firefighters, police officers, postal workers, teachers, and others with a public pension have collected decreased Social Security benefits for jobs they held in the private sector because of WEP, which was designed to prevent so-called double-dipping from a government pension and Social Security.

The GPO ensures spousal benefits are adjusted to reflect income from public pensions in an effort to prevent Social Security overpayments. 

"This is a victory for thousands of teachers, first responders, and public servants in Maine who, through service to their communities, have been forced to forego their earned retirement benefits," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine., the lead sponsor of the measure. 

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., called the bill "fundamentally unfair," saying it would impact millions who have paid into Social Security.

"This bill would force those workers, 96% of them in America, to subsidize overly generous benefits for the 4% of the workforce, those who have not participated in Social Security and instead contribute to non-covered pensions," Lee said on the Senate floor. 

"The men and women that are in Congress clearly recognized the unfairness that was being applied when it comes to a Social Security benefit, which was richly deserved and earned," he said. 

He acknowledged that many retirees sometimes continue to work in other areas that pay into Social Security.