On January 5, 2025, former President Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act, expanding Social Security benefits for millions of retired public service workers, enabling teachers, firefighters, police officers and others who receive pensions to also receive full benefits.
In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. This law established a federal safety net that provided benefits to retirees over 65, funded by lifetime payroll tax contributions. But a later provision of the law, enacted in the 1970s, prevented public service workers who receive pensions from also receiving full Social Security benefits.
