Some Americans may receive an additional Social Security lump-sum retroactive payment this year, after several U.S. senators urged the Social Security Administration (SSA) to revise its implementation of the Social Security Fairness Act.
The Social Security Fairness Act eliminated the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) last year. That meant many seniors who received pensions earned higher Social Security payments, but some were left out of getting full retroactive lump sum payments.
If the SSA accedes to the request, affected beneficiaries could receive back-dated payments covering up to 12 months of missed benefits under the law, expanding on earlier six-month payouts officials initially issued.
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Who could benefit and how much?
The Social Security Fairness Act eliminated WEP and GPO formulas that previously reduced benefits for certain public servants. Many of these beneficiaries were supposed to receive not only higher future monthly payments but also retroactive lump sums dating back to 2024.
Retroactive payments for pension workers were restricted to six months under the SSA’s existing regulations, rather than a year for these beneficiaries.
This affected 2.8 million Americans, most of whom were either surviving spouses of teachers, firefighters, or police officers and some federal employees who earned Social Security credits.
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Senators push to change retroactive payments policy and funding challenges
Senators John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, and Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, are urging the SSA to change the current retroactive payments policy.
However, the law’s passage date was not clear. The Congress “did not distinguish between new and current beneficiaries when setting the Act’s effective date.” The SSA should not adhere to the “plain text” of the statute either.
In a letter to the SSA earlier this month, Cassidy, Cornyn, and Fetterman stated, “We do not fault SSA for not having a crystal ball.”
Due to the SSA’s ongoing financial problems, which many experts predict might cause the agency to run out of funds for full payments by as early as 2033, there may be some opposition to distributing the lump sum payments for an entire year.