Lafayette Reporter

The Senate has approved the Social Security Fairness Act, a bill cosponsored by Senator John Kennedy (R-La.), which now awaits the president's signature to become law. This legislation aims to repeal two provisions that currently reduce Social Security benefits for public servants and workers with certain pensions.

"In effect, two pieces of our law—the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset—have been penalizing public servants for working hard to earn their pensions. The good news is that the Senate just passed a bill called the Social Security Fairness Act, which I’ve been working to pass in the Senate since 2017. Our bill is going to make sure that Louisianians who receive a pension from their work in public service can collect their full Social Security benefits in retirement," explained Kennedy.

The Windfall Elimination Provision reduces Social Security benefits for retirees or disabled workers who have worked in jobs contributing to a pension instead of Social Security. Consequently, individuals like those in Louisiana who spent part of their careers in public service experience diminished Social Security benefits compared to those who worked entirely in the private sector.

The Government Pension Offset impacts public servants whose jobs contributed to pensions rather than Social Security but are married to someone who paid into Social Security. This provision deducts two-thirds of the value of such a public servant’s pension from any spousal or survivor benefits they receive through Social Security.

For instance, if a widowed police officer receives a monthly civil service pension of $3,000, then $2,000 would be deducted from his Social Security survivor benefits because his late spouse paid into Social Security.

"I worked to kill these two unfair provisions back when I was state treasurer of Louisiana, and I’ve worked for seven years, almost eight years, as a U.S. Senator to get rid of them. Why? Because I wanted to make sure that Louisianians who received the pension from their work in public service could collect their full Social Security benefits in retirement—no tricky cuts that would hurt them and their families," Kennedy said.

"Folks, these folks I've been talking about, they didn't go into public service to get rich. We shouldn't punish these good people for their public service by making them poorer—especially when some of my colleagues here in Washington have been obsessed—obsessed!—with giving taxpayer dollars to people who are in our country illegally," he concluded.

Kennedy has consistently cosponsored the Social Security Fairness Act throughout his tenure in Congress since being elected as a senator.