What you need to know about the House push to expand some Social Security benefits

WASHINGTON (AP) – The House is expected to try next week to pass a Social Security-related bill to guarantee benefits to workers who qualify for other pensions despite a surprise move by hard-line Freedom Caucus leaders to derail the effort.

It’s a quick turnaround to salvage what was a bipartisan effort to pass the bill in what is now the post-election season of Congress.

Here’s what happens:

WHAT DOES THE BILL DO?

A measure to end the so-called “state pension” has gained support in the House – 300 hard-line lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, have signed on.

A summary of the bill states that the reduction in state pensions “in various cases reduces Social Security benefits for spouses, widows and widowers who receive their own state pension.”

The bill would eliminate that provision and restore full Social Security benefits.

HOW DID THE BILL COME BACK?

To push the legislation forward, the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Republican Rep. Garrett Graves of Louisiana and Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia used a less successful procedure called a petition for release.

They collected the 218 signatures needed from House lawmakers to get the bill out of committee and send it to the floor for a vote.

This move is often seen as an affront to the leaders of the House, especially the speaker of the House and the majority leader who decides the floor plan.

But Spanberger and Graves — both of whom did not seek re-election — lost narrowly. Besides, Johnson supported the bill before he became speaker.

HOW DO THE CONSERVATIVES STOP?

Two leaders of the House Freedom Caucus intervened while the rest of Congress was away from Capitol Hill, especially in the home states on Election Day.

The chairman of the Freedom Caucus, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., and former chairman Rep. Bob Goode, R-Va., used a pro forma session of the House on Tuesday to introduce part of the measure immediately.

The Freedom Caucus often blocks new spending. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill would add $196 billion to the federal budget over ten years.

Graves said that’s the money people are missing out on without getting full Social Security benefits back.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

In introducing the legislation the Conservatives actually reversed their procedural law, but not the bill itself.

The legislation is expected to move forward with a House vote anyway, possibly next week.

That said, the transition is going to be difficult, requiring the largest number of people as planned under the law for the leaders of the Freedom Commission to turn around.

WHO WILL BENEFIT IF THE BILL PASSES?

The summary says the legislation, if approved, would repeal provisions that reduce Social Security benefits for individuals who receive other benefits, such as pensions from state or local government.

It says the bill also eliminates the so-called “wind-up provision” that “in some cases reduces Social Security benefits for people who receive pension or disability benefits from an employer that did not withhold Social Security taxes.”

If it passes the House, it is unclear whether the bill has enough support to clear the Senate. But the wide margin in the House indicates broad potential support.

Then it went to the desk of President Joe Biden. If signed into law, the summary says the changes apply to benefits paid after December 2023.