Lame ducks never make for good policy. Having passed a lame duck vote in the House, H.R. 82, the so-called Social Security Fairness Act of 2023 is now set for a lame duck Senate vote.
Despite its name, the Social Security Fairness Act is neither fair, nor accurate, nor fiscally responsible. It violates Social Security’s progressive nature, creates unequal benefits based on inaccurate earnings histories, and would cost Social Security $196 billion over the next 10 years. That would cause Social Security’s trust fund to become insolvent six months sooner and lead to larger benefit cuts for about 96% of all current and future Social Security beneficiaries.
The bill’s proponents say it restores benefits that they argue were unfairly taken away through the Windfall Elimination Provision, and the Government Pension Offset. Congress passed those provisions roughly 40…
