Recent news stories say that there is a push to increase Social Security benefits under Trump’s administration. Hard-right Freedom Caucus leaders tried to surprise everyone by getting in the way of the effort, but the House is still planning to try to pass a Social Security bill next week so that workers who are also eligible for other pensions can get their benefits.
Now is the time to save the bipartisan effort to pass the package during the last few days of Congress before the elections. Find out more about what’s going on here.
Some Social Security benefits will be expanded under the Trump administration
The bill to get rid of the “government pensions offset” has been gaining support in the House. It now has 300 supporters, including House Speaker Mike Johnson. The summary of the legislation says that the government pension offset often means that widows, widowers, and spouses who also get government pensions have less money coming in from Social Security.
The bill would get rid of that clause, which would mean that full Social Security benefits would be given again. Republican Representative Garrett Graves of Louisiana and Democratic Representative Abigail Spanberger of Virginia pushed the bill through by using a discharge petition, which is a rarely used method that usually works.
In addition, they got at least 218 signatures from House members to take the bill out of committee and put it to a vote on the floor. The leaders of the House, especially the majority leader and the speaker, who set the schedule for the floor, often think the action is rude.
But Spanberger and Graves didn’t run for reelection because they didn’t have anything to lose. Johnson also backed the bill before he was elected speaker.
How did conservative lawmakers block it?
On Election Day, most members of Congress were in their home states, but two leaders of the conservative House Freedom Caucus stepped up. During the House’s regular pro forma session on Tuesday, former chair Republican Bob Goode, R-Va., and Republican Andy Harris, R-Md., quickly put forward a part of the plan.
Most of the time, the Freedom Caucus stops new spending. The bill, according to the fair Congressional Budget Office, would add about $196 billion to the government deficit over ten years.
Those are the amounts that Graves says Americans would lose if full Social Security benefits were brought back. The conservatives didn’t change the bill itself, but when they tallied it, they did change the way it was put together.
Even so, the bill is likely to go forward with a House vote, possibly as soon as next week. But now it will be harder to pass because it will need a supermajority instead of a simple majority, which is what the rule that the Freedom Caucus leaders revoked called for.
Which Americans would benefit if the bill became effective?
The summary says that if the bill passes, the parts of it that lower Social Security benefits for people who get other benefits, like a state or local government pension, would be taken away.
The report also says that the plan gets rid of the so-called “windfall elimination provision.” This provision lowers Social Security benefits for people who get a disability benefit or pension from an employer who did not withhold payroll taxes.
It’s not clear if the bill has enough support in the Senate after it passed the House. The House’s large margin, on the other hand, suggests that support may be widespread. It would then get to President Joe Biden’s desk.
The changes will apply to benefits due after December 2023, according to the summary, if they become law. So, people who get Social Security should stay up to date on this issue to find out if it will affect them or not.
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