Alaska’s two Republican U.S. senators are among 28 Senate members urging the Social Security administration to implement a law passed last year that would expand Social Security benefits for thousands of Alaskans.
The bill was passed in a bipartisan vote and signed by former President Joe Biden early last month, affecting nearly three million people who receive pensions from their time as teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public service jobs, among them thousands of Alaskans.
The bill is set to have a disproportionate impact on Social Security recipients in Alaska, where a greater share of the workforce are employed at some point in the public sector.
The bill rescinded two provisions — the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset — that limit Social Security benefits for recipients who also collect retirement income from state or local government pensions.
The bill was celebrated by unions and lawmakers in Alaska.
Now, the Social Security Administration is saying it could take more than a year to implement the bill and adjust benefits for the impacted Social Security recipients.
In a letter sent Wednesday, Murkowski, Sullivan and 26 other Senate members wrote to the Acting Social Security Commissioner Michelle King calling for the “immediate implementation of this legislation.”
In the interim, they requested monthly updates and briefings on the status of implementing the bill. President Donald Trump appointed King as acting commissioner last month.
The request comes as a Trump-led effort to shrink and overhaul the federal workforce has caused public officials to raise alarm over potential impacts to government services, including access to Social Security benefits.