Social Security Fairness Act application

@iamonewithhim I do not think many of the folks "in line" for the bonus SS Benefit payments will read AARP's position or care about how the SS bonus payments will be funded. Based on your comments and replies, it appears you have knowledge of the SS Program and the mathematical formula for developing the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) based on 35 years of indexed Earnings in Covered Employment (Average Indexed Monthly Earnings or AIME).

As you know, SS is a self funding system (FICA Taxes). The total benefits it pays cannot exceed the FICA taxes that Participants/Employers contribute. If SS gives unintended bonus payments to some households via repeal of WEP and GPO, that money comes straight from other participants. The SS Program has been drawing down SS Trust Fund reserves from 2021 in order to cover the SS benefit payroll which is approx. $1.2 Trillion per year and growing. The SS Trust reserve is there to support benefit payments when unemployment is high and FICA taxes low. We have had essentially "full employment" since 2021/2022 after Covid; and, yet, we will continue to draw down the SS Trust reserves until depleted unless Congress creates a solution. Their decision to repeal WEP and GPO will now deplete the reserve sooner. The best estimate is approx. $200 Billion which in time means about 6 months sooner. So, maybe 3 million folks will receive SS bonus payments at the expense of approx. 50 -55  million other folks, many of them low benefit folks who do not have a "gold plated" Government Pension or any kind of pension. It is sad that Congress voted to repeal WEP and GPO rather than reform such provisions. WEP  which was created by the National Commission on Social Security Reform (aka Greenspan Commission) in January 1983.was developed to stop overpaying SS Benefits to folks who had non-covered earnings that were not included in the SS System. Many folks appeared to the SS System as long term low wage workers living near the poverty level. Their PIA would provide 90% at the first bend point. At any rate, I am including a link to information from the Subcommittee on Social Security House Ways and Means Committee in April 2024  https://www.congress.gov/event/118th-congress/house-event/LC73221/text It is an interesting read. The testimony from Jason Fichtner VP/Chief Economist Bipartisan Policy Center and former Chief Economist for the SSA  provides a solution for reforming the WEP and GPO instead of a repeal. Others provided the sound financial reasoning for keeping equity and parity. It appears that advice fell on deaf ears and Congress repealed WEP and GPO which reinstates SS Benefit overpayments to workers with non-covered earnings. Congress did not provide a solution for paying for such SS Benefit overpayments. That is reckless as well as capricious and arbitrary. I suggest reading the National Commission report issued in January 1983. At that time, many changes were developed to avoid the SS Trust reaching zero by August 1983. The National Commission estimated that all changes which included the WEP would provide approx. 66.7% of the needed revenue through FICA increases and SS Benefit reductions. The remaining 33.3%  to complete the 75 year funding plan would come from a FICA increase of about a half percent (0.046%) in 2010 for both employee and employer. That increase was not implemented. Just think about the math and time estimated by the National Commission or 66.7% of 75 year which is about 50 years. That gets the SS System from 1984 to 2034 which was the projected SS Trust depletion date. With no approx. 1% FICA increase in 2010 and the repeal of WEP and DPO , it looks like the SS Trust will deplete earlier with SS Benefit cuts of approx. 17% to 20% for everyone. Moreover, there is no solution in sight.