WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act into law on Sunday to restore social security benefits to millions of Americans.
Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray has reported on how a law from the 1980s has prevented many workers with government and public service jobs from being able to receive Social Security benefits, despite paying into the system.
Those impacted including teachers, firefighters and police officers.
“I’ve always worked another job at the same time that I was teaching school. All of my life. I’ve been working since I was 16,” former Atlanta Public Schools teacher Verdaillia Turner told Gray.
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Last month, the U.S. Senate passed to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset. The bill had 63 co-sponsors in the Senate including Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
On Sunday, Biden signed the law. More than 50,000 Georgians will now have their benefits.
“Educators, firefighters, and law enforcement officers already make huge sacrifices for our state and aren’t in it for the money — it makes no sense to unfairly reduce their Social Security benefits,” Ossoff said.
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There have been concerns about the price tag that could run into the billions of dollars for the already troubled Social Security trust fund.
The annual Social Security and Medicare trustees report released last May said the program’s trust fund will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2035.
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