How do you feel about the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023?

I agree. But that is the system, our gov has set up.  Spouses and minor children of the worker can recieve a benefit as well.  Total is max of 50% of the SS worker benefit.

And now they are going to switch it to, they will treat the pension worker spouse as a stay at home spouse who will get the 50% spousal benefit without taking the pension into account. This post was edited by my2cents at December 29, 2024 7:37 AM MST

I'm a little confused here.  Are you saying that the spouse of a pension worker who hasn't contributed into SS will be entitled to 50% of what SS would pay even though he hasn't contributed anything into SS?

Yes, that is what this bill does. 

Not in favor of anyone collecting from a fund to which they have not contributed unless it's a spouse.

A stay at home spouse or a pension working spouse or both?

A stay at home spouse.  A pension working spouse who doesn't contribute to SS should not be able to apply for benefits upon her husband's death unless her income is at or below the poverty level.

Well the pension earning spouse receiving SS benefit without paying into SS is going to be allowed to recieve benefits from SS under this bill. It has passed both the House and Senate, Biden is expected to sign it.

There is also supposed to be a 5% across the board cut of benefits as well in the bill. 

Personally, this is an issue we agree on. This post was edited by my2cents at December 30, 2024 5:15 AM MST

There is no 5% cut in this bill. What you are referencing is the required cut to benefits that will take place when the Social Security fund runs out of money. The current estimate is that it will happen in 2035 and benefits will be reduced by 17%. If the SS Fairness Act is signed, the estimate is that the fund runs out of money in 2033 and benefits will be cut by 21% which is 5% more than the 17%.So, no immediate cut, but a bigger cut happening sooner if we don't fix it so that we have more money coming in.

No. You have to pay into SS before your spouse can get benefits. The change is that the spouse  who has a government pension can now also get spousal benefits based on what her/his spouse paid into SS. I am not defending, just explaining. I'm not exactly sure how I feel. I know that if I were entitled to spousal benefits, I wouldn't want them reduced by my private sector pension.

Also, bear in mind that if both spouses pay into SS,  the lower income spouse can choose between their benefit or the spousal benefit, whichever is higher. So spousal benefits are built into the system, regardless of need - which means that we single folks are subsidizing married people. :) Maybe we need to look at spousal benefits as part of any reform.
 
There were two separate laws that are repealed in this act. GPO is the one that affected spousal benefits. 
This post was edited by Jane S at December 30, 2024 7:10 AM MST

Thank you for explaining this.  I don't see why this should be so complicated.  If I understand your explanation, I, too, wouldn't want to have my spousal benefits reduced if I had a pension because my spouse would have paid into SS and I would be entitled to spousal benefits. This post was edited by Spunky at December 30, 2024 8:19 AM MST