Industry News

On January 31, 2025, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) released its report, The Social Security Fairness Act of 2023. The Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82) was signed into law on January 5, 2025. It repealed two Social Security Act provisions under the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). The WEP and GPO provisions operated to reduce or eliminate Social Security benefits for public sector employees that are also entitled to retirement benefits from non-Social Security covered employment. The Act officially repealed both provisions that reduced benefits for millions of public sector workers that receive public pension benefits. 

Under the new law, the affected beneficiaries are expected to receive an increase in monthly benefits and may also receive retroactive benefit payments dated back to January 2024. Repealing the WEP and GPO may also affect other components in Social Security and other programs.

According to the report, “CBO estimated that the act would increase direct spending by about $196 billion over the period FY2024-FY2034. It also estimated that the act would advance the exhaustion date (FY2034 under 2024 baseline projections) of the combined Social Security trust funds by roughly six months. Following the trust funds’ exhaustion, ongoing revenue from Social Security will be available to pay only a proportion of the scheduled benefits. CBO estimated that the act would reduce the proportion from 78.3% to 77.7%.”

The report is available here.