Joe Biden is once again playing Santa Claus with money the government doesn’t have, signing the Social Security Fairness Act into law. The bill, which eliminates the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO), promises bigger checks for millions of public sector retirees. On the surface, it’s being hailed as a win for teachers, firefighters, and police officers who’ve long seen their benefits unfairly slashed. But let’s not kid ourselves—this is classic Democrat policymaking: hand out money now, worry about insolvency later.
Biden boasted during Sunday’s signing ceremony that the law would raise Social Security benefits by an average of $360 a month for 2.8 million retirees. Firefighters’ unions and other public-sector groups were quick to cheer the move, calling it justice for retirees who’ve been shortchanged for decades. Sure, it sounds great—until you realize the Congressional Budget Office estimates this little gift will cost nearly $196 billion over the next decade. That’s quite the tab for a Social Security system already careening toward insolvency.
Social Security’s finances are a train wreck. By 2038, the program is expected to run out of money unless lawmakers act to fix it. But instead of addressing this looming crisis, Democrats are piling on more costs, all while pretending the system isn’t on borrowed time. Senator Thom Tillis, one of the few voices of sanity, pointed out that this bill does nothing to ensure long-term sustainability. He’s right: throwing more benefits at a broken system without a funding plan is fiscal lunacy.
This law will provide retroactive payments dating back to January 2024, with some beneficiaries seeing monthly increases as high as $1,190. That’s great for the 3 million retirees affected—but what about everyone else who’s paid into the system and might not see a dime when the trust fund dries up? The SSA is already scrambling to figure out how to implement these changes, but don’t hold your breath for answers anytime soon.
The Social Security Fairness Act is another prime example of how Democrats play politics with your money. They’ll buy votes today with promises they can’t keep tomorrow. Meanwhile, the rest of us are left holding the bag. If Biden truly cared about America’s retirees, he’d tackle Social Security’s financial problems head-on instead of passing the buck to future generations.
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