Millions of people across the country, including thousands here in
Maine, will soon see more money in their Social Security
payments.
This is thanks to the Social Security Fairness Act Congress
passed it just over the weekend.
In fact, Senator Susan Collins spearheaded the effort alongside Ohio
Senator Sherrod Brown.
Under the law, public workers will get more out of
the benefits they have paid into over the years.
Those impacted include those who worked in state or local
government.
That includes firefighters, law enforcement and teachers.
The Social Security Fairness Act repeals 2 decades old laws
that limited Social Security benefits, the windfall elimination provision and
the government pension offset.
Edward Kelly with the International Firefighter Association says this new
law can help future and current retirees.
This will benefit those struggling seniors that dedicated their lives
to public service.
Get out a pension.
Most of our public pensions don't have great cost of
living adjustments, so you pretty much get a small sum
over whatever you retired on.
So if you've lived 30 years past your retirement, your
retirement check really isn't that valuable.
It's if you can't survive on it.
The Social Security Fairness Act did not include funding for
the Social Security Administration, which is currently in a hiring
freeze.
The agency is operating at its lowest staffing levels in
50 years while serving more people than ever.
And even though this new law could add billions on
to the federal deficit, Kelly says that doesn't mean public
workers should be shortchanged.
That law, by the way, now heads to President Biden's
desk for his signature.