Senate Passes $195 Billion Bill to Increase Social Security Benefits for Government Employees

The bill eliminates two provisions that prevented public sector employees from receiving full Social Security benefits, which their unions strongly opposed.

A Social Security card sits alongside checks from the U.S. Treasury in Washington on Oct. 14, 2021. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate on Dec. 21 passed a bipartisan bill that will enable government employees, their survivors, and disabled persons to receive more money from the Social Security program, which will cost up to $195 billion over 10 years.

The Social Security Fairness Act, a bill sponsored by retiring Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), will repeal the program’s “government pension offset”—a provision that reduces Social Security payments to beneficiaries who also receive monthly pensions from federal, state, or local governments.