Sponsors (3)
Excludes specified pandemic and emergency-era wages of qualifying health care workers and first responders from Social Security excess-earnings calculations and authorizes emergency waivers.
Official title: To provide for the exemption of certain earnings from the retirement earnings test, and for other purposes.
Introduced December 9, 2025 by Glenn Thompson · Last progress December 9, 2025
The bill protects retirement benefits for eligible frontline workers who earned wages during declared health emergencies, trading modest increases in Social Security outlays and added SSA administrative burdens — with some risk that narrow eligibility/definitions will leave others without relief.
Eligible frontline workers (health care professionals, first responders) who earned wages during the COVID period or during HHS-declared public health emergencies can exclude those wages from Social Security excess-earnings calculations, reducing or eliminating benefit reductions and preserving monthly retirement benefits.
Frontline workers face lower financial penalties from having worked extra hours during emergencies, so their lifetime Social Security benefits and retirement security are better protected.
The bill requires an annual report to Congress listing waivers issued, creating transparency and enabling legislative oversight of how waivers are used.
Taxpayers and the Social Security program could face modest increased outlays and slightly worse long-term trust fund projections because some benefit reductions are reversed or wages are waived from excess-earnings calculations.
The Social Security Administration will incur administrative burden and short-term costs to verify attestations/evidence, adjust past benefit computations, and produce required reports, imposing workload and resource demands on the agency.
Narrow eligibility requirements and documentation/waiver processes may leave some frontline workers who provided emergency services without relief if they cannot prove status or secure a waiver.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Exempts certain past and emergency-era wages earned by health care professionals and first responders from reducing Social Security retirement benefits under the earnings test, and lets the Social Security Commissioner waive excess-earnings penalties for eligible workers during HHS-declared public health emergencies. It requires the Commissioner to issue implementation guidance within 30 days and to report annually on waivers issued. The change applies retroactively to wages paid Jan 31, 2020–May 11, 2023 for those who attest and provide evidence they worked as health care professionals or first responders, and it creates a standing waiver process for wages earned during HHS-declared public health emergencies when a worker shortage was declared.