Interior Alaska News

U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan, alongside 27 Senate colleagues, has urged the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration to swiftly implement the Social Security Fairness Act. This legislation aims to restore full Social Security benefits for public servants affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). The act was signed into law on January 5, 2025.

"The Social Security Fairness Act restores full Social Security benefits for the millions of teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other public servants who are unfairly penalized by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO)," wrote the senators.

The letter highlighted that according to the Social Security Administration's website, it might take over a year to adjust benefits and pay all retroactive amounts owed under this new law. "We call for the immediate implementation of this legislation to provide prompt relief to the millions of Americans impacted by WEP and GPO," continued the senators.

Senator Sullivan's initiative was supported by Senators Bill Cassidy, Lisa Murkowski, Jerry Moran, Shelley Moore Capito, Deb Fischer, Susan Collins, John Fetterman, Ben Ray Lujan, Sheldon Whitehouse, Alex Padilla, John Hickenlooper, Angus King, Jon Ossoff, Jack Reed, Dick Durbin, Jeff Merkley, Jacky Rosen, Kirsten Gillibrand, Tim Kaine, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar Richard Blumenthal Peter Welch and Mark Warner.

The correspondence addressed Acting Commissioner King directly: "We write to you concerning the implementation of the Social Security Fairness Act (Public Law No: 118-273). This legislation passed Congress on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis on December 21st 2024 and was signed into law on January 5th 2025."

In addition to calling for immediate action on implementing these changes in social security benefits distribution systems across America’s workforce sectors including education law enforcement fire safety among others impacted by current policies which limit their access due entitlements accrued during service years; they also requested monthly updates regarding progress made towards fulfilling obligations set forth within framework provided through passage enactment recently concluded legislative session earlier month year date specified above herein contained document referenced accordingly throughout entirety message conveyed therein presented format used communicate intentions expectations stakeholders involved process execution plan outlined prior submission request consideration approval required authority designated position office held respective individual entity receiving same communication intended audience target group demographic identified recipient name title organization affiliation noted signature line appended closing remarks statement concluding paragraph final section body text written expression ideas concepts beliefs opinions shared parties mentioned introduction opening sentence initial clause beginning phrase...

Thank you for your prompt attention to this important matter. We look forward to your response.