The Senate voted in a bipartisan fashion, 73-23, to advance a bill that would boost Social Security benefits for more than 2 million American by repealing laws that had limited payouts to public sector employees.
The legislation previously passed the House 327-75. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill once it passes the Senate on a final vote.
The bill repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset.
WEP reduces Social Security benefits for workers getting pensions for employment not covered by Social Security; and GPO reduces benefits for spouses, widows, and widowers of people who get government pensions.
Supporters of the bill said some retirees were living in poverty because of the reduction in benefits.
"Both combined created such inequities for people who had earned their Social Security benefits or who had spouses who worked in the private sector and earned their benefits," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a supporter of the bill.
Opponents of the bill pointed to a projection from the Congressional Budget Office that the bill would add $196 billion to the federal deficit over the next decade and could speed up Social Security's insolvency.
"We have never in history, to my knowledge, unleashed such a massive bomb that would blow such a massive hole in the Social Security trust fund — $200 billion," Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said. "I don't think there's any member of our conference who doesn't think that we need to do some repair, but I think we're kidding ourselves and mistreating the American people if we blow a $200 billion hole in it and give no thought to how to fix that."
Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has opposed the bill but said members were free to vote how they wished.