President Joe Biden signed a new measure into law that expands social security benefits for current and former public employees. It's called the "Social Security Fairness Act," which is something advocates feel rights a decades-old wrong."Impacting children each and every day has been fulfilling and rewarding," said Melissa Johnson, a kindergarten teacher at Bowman Primary School. For the last 21 years, Johnson has taught kindergarten at the Lebanon elementary school. "I thought it would be a great thing for me to be at home when my kids needed me as well," said Johnson.Prior to teaching, she spent 22 years in the business world. Johnson knew she would only collect a pro-rated pension for her years as a teacher. Recently, she realized she would only collect a portion of her social security benefits, even though she had paid into it for years. That's when she learned about the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)."It took away about 60 percent of my own personal social security amount but it wiped out half of my ex-husband's amount that I was also entitled to," said Johnson.The other provision that was deducted from her retirement included the Government Pension Offset (GPO). "They deserve to have their money back and I think we got to a point where people realized the government was stealing from them and that had to end," said Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Cincinnati.Last Sunday, President Joe Biden signed the bi-partisan bill into law. It rescinds two provisions the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset that limit Social Security benefits for recipients if they get retirement payments from other sources, including public retirement programs from a state or local government.The bill I'm signing today is about a simple proposition: Americans who have worked hard all their life to earn an honest living should be able to retire with economic security and dignity that's the entire purpose of the Social Security system, Biden said during a signing ceremony in the White House East Room.Biden was joined by labor leaders, retirement advocates, and Democratic and Republican lawmakers including the legislation's primary sponsors, Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins and exiting Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who received a standing ovation from ceremony attendees. It impacts nearly three million former public employees, including teachers, police officers, firefighters, and postal workers. The Congressional Research Service says the change will impact about 230,000 Ohioans. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates beneficiaries will see an average monthly increase of $360 in their social security benefits. Surviving spouses are estimated to get an increase between $700-1,190 a month."These folks worked their tails off and again, you got to make hard work pay off and that's something that America has to do better," said Landsman. The change is to payments from January 2024 and beyond, meaning the Social Security Administration would owe back-dated payments. The measure as passed by Congress says the Social Security commissioner "shall adjust primary insurance amounts to the extent necessary to take into account changes in the law. It's not immediately clear how this will happen or whether people affected will have to take any action.While some Republicans such as Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins supported the legislation, others, including Sens. John Thune of South Dakota, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, voted against it. We caved to the pressure of the moment instead of doing this on a sustainable basis, Tillis told The Associated Press last month.Still, Republican supporters of the bill said there was a rare opportunity to address what they described as an unfair section of federal law that hurts public service retirees.The future of Social Security has become a top political issue and was a major point of contention in the 2024 election. About 72.5 million people, including retirees, disabled people and children, receive Social Security benefits.The policy changes from the new law will heap more administrative work on the Social Security Administration, which is already at its lowest staffing level in decades. The agency, currently under a hiring freeze, has a staff of about 56,645 the lowest level in over 50 years even as it serves more people than ever.The annual Social Security and Medicare trustees report released last May said the programs trust fund will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2035. The new law will hasten the programs insolvency date by about half a year.Along with ratifying the Social Security Fairness Act, earlier in his presidency Biden signed the Butch Lewis Act into law, which saved the retirement pensions of two million union workers.