Press Releases

President Joe Biden signed legislation co-sponsored by Congressman Salud Carbajal (CA-24) restoring full Social Security benefits for millions of retired school teachers, public employees, and first responders like firefighters and police officers.

The legislation will increase retirement benefits for more than 350,000 California families that previously saw their income curtailed by a 40 year-old legal provision.

“Dedicated public servants like our teachers, firefighters, and police officers spent decades paying into Social Security, only to have their benefits reduced because of their chosen careers. This unfair penalty has hurt millions of retirees across the United States, and its fix was long overdue,” said Rep. Carbajal. “I’m proud to have been a part of the bipartisan coalition that rejected House Republican leadership’s opposition to this commonsense bill and used our legislative tools to circumvent them to see this bill to the President’s desk.”

The Social Security Fairness Act repeals both the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO), two provisions added to the Social Security Act in 1983 that unfairly reduce the earned Social Security benefits of many retired public servants like teachers, police officers, firefighters, emergency services personnel, other first responders, and federal, state, and local employees who worked in both covered and non-covered jobs during their careers.

After encountering opposition from House Republican leadership to move the legislation forward, Rep. Carbajal and 217 other members of Congress signed a discharge petition forcing the consideration of the bill. It was the first successful use of the procedure in nearly a decade.

Hundreds of national organizations are supportive of the Social Security Fairness Act, including the National Fraternal Order of Police, National Association of Police Organizations, International Association of Fire Fighters, Senior Citizens League, National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, National Association of County Office Employees, National Treasury Employees Union, Federal Managers Association, American Federation of Teachers, Alliance for Retired Americans, National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, National Association of Letter Carriers, American Postal Workers Union, National Education Association, American Federation of Government Employees, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, National Postal Mail Handlers Union, and Society of Former Special Agents.