A House-passed bill that would extend Social Security benefits to millions of Americans just got a lifeline in the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday he would begin the process for a final vote on the Social Security Fairness Act, which would repeal two federal policies that prevent a portion of Americans, including police officers, firefighters and teachers, from getting their to receive full social security benefits.

A living example is Terry Hoover, a firefighter in Louisville, Kentucky for more than 20 years. Now retired, he says those two precautions cost his family more than $1,000 a month.

“My Social Security is going to be cut because of my pension,” Hoover told his fellow first responders at a rally earlier this week, a local CBS affiliate reported. “And then my wife, she was a nurse for 41 years and paid into the Social Security system, you know, and I can’t take a dime from her because of my pension.”

Schumer, a Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill, tweeted The bill would “ensure that Americans are not wrongly denied their well-deserved Social Security benefits simply because they eventually chose a career in public service.” As majority leader, he can invoke a Senate rule that skips a committee hearing and the bill submitted directly to the full Senate for a vote.

This is important because the clock is ticking on his fate and there are only a few days left in the current session of Congress.

After decades of work, the bill would repeal two federal policies — the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) — that largely cut payments to nearly 3 million retirees.

This includes those who also receive pensions from state and federal jobs not covered by Social Security, including teachers, police officers and U.S. postal workers. The bill would also eliminate a second provision that reduces Social Security benefits for those workers’ surviving spouses and dependents. The WEP affects approximately 2 million Social Security recipients and the GPO affects nearly 800,000 retirees.

Various forms of the measure have been introduced over the years, but like many other legislative proposals, they have failed to be implemented.

“I’ve been working in the league for 25 years and I can’t remember ever not having a version,” said Shannon Benton, executive director of the Senior Citizens League (TSCL), an advocacy group dedicated to protecting retirement benefits League supported. “We are cautiously optimistic,” she told CBS MoneyWatch earlier this month.

The bill had 62 co-sponsors when the Senate version was introduced last year and would now need at least 60 votes to pass Congress and then get to President Biden.

In a speech earlier this month, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy delivered went to the Senate Word to call for a vote in plenary. “If Schumer brings it up, it will pass,” said Cassidy, one of his Republican sponsors.

Will the Senate pass the Social Security Fairness Act?

At least one Republican senator who signed a similar bill last year, Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana, said he was still considering whether to vote for the bill next week. “Nothing ever gets paid, so it’s another debt, I don’t know,” Braun said, according to the Associated Press.

The opposition includes the Committee for a Responsible Budget, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to educating the public on issues that have significant implications for fiscal policy. In a statement following Schumer’s announcement, the group’s president, Maya MacGuineas, said it was “truly astonishing” that lawmakers would consider hastening the trust fund’s demise.

The measure would increase the burden on Social Security trust funds, which are already estimated to be unable to pay the full amount of planned benefits starting in 2035. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the proposed legislation would likely add $195 billion to federal deficits over a decade.

“The Senate should reject the repeal of WEP and GPO. Instead, they should come together to try to resolve the problems with WEP and GPO as part of a comprehensive package to strengthen Social Security, prevent bankruptcies and make the program’s finances sustainable in the long term,” MacGuineas urged.

The bill, introduced by Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Garret Graves, R-La., passed the House last month by a vote of 327-75.

If the Senate does not act, the measure will expire “December 31, at the end of the second session of Congress,” Benton said. “Not only would this bill have to start from scratch, it would also have to be introduced by a new person.”

The Associated Press

contributed to this report.