BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D) is pushing the U.S. Senate to pass a bill that would expand social security benefits for over 35,000 New York public sector retirees.
The public sector workers include state and local government employees, teachers, firefighters and police officers.
The Social Securities Fairness Act passed in the House with considerable bipartisan support last week. The Senate has not voted on it yet.
“No one should be denied the Social Security benefits they have earned and deserve,” Gillibrand said Wednesday. “Passing this bill would give retiring public servants some desperately needed peace of mind and reward them for the invaluable role they’ve played in society.”
If passed, the bill would eliminate two provisions, the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, which reduces the amount in Social Security that retirees can receive. All in all, about 2.5 million Americans would see their Social Security go up.
Payments would be retroactive to December 2023.
“The cost is quite considerable,” Gillibrand said. “About $19 billion a year. It’s a lot of money we’re going to be putting back into people’s pockets.”
Latest Local News
Aidan Joly joined the News 4 staff in 2022. He is a graduate of Canisius College. You can see more of his work here.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
