Will the FERS Supplement Be Eliminated in 2028?

The FERS Special Retirement Supplement is not being eliminated in 2028. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in 2025 that would have ended the supplement for future retirees starting in January 2028, but the Senate stripped that provision before passing its own version. The benefit remains a legally authorized payment under 5 U.S.C. § 8421, and every eligible federal retiree who meets the qualifying criteria continues to receive it.¹

What Happened With the 2025 Bill

When the House passed H.R. 1, called the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” it included Section 90001, which would have eliminated the supplement effective January 1, 2028, for anyone not already receiving it.² That provision drew heavy attention from federal employees, and it is the source of most of the “2028 elimination” language circulating online.

The Senate passed its version of H.R. 1 on July 1, 2025, by a 50–50 vote with the vice president breaking the tie. The FERS supplement elimination was no longer in the bill. The House still has to accept the Senate’s version or negotiate a compromise, and whether the supplement provision comes back during that process is not known. For now it has been dropped from active legislation.

This is not the first time this has happened. Proposals to cut the supplement have appeared in multiple budget cycles over the past decade, often passing the House before stalling in the Senate. The idea keeps returning, and every attempt so far has failed.

How These Proposals Have Been Structured

The proposals that have come closest to passing share a common structure. Knowing it helps you separate real risk from rumor if a similar bill surfaces again.

Current retirees have been grandfathered. Every serious proposal has protected people already collecting the supplement on the date the law would take effect, letting them continue receiving it until age 62 as planned.
The effective date has been set in the future. The most recent House proposal used January 1, 2028, giving current employees advance notice rather than cutting benefits immediately.
Special provision employees have often been carved out. Law enforcement officers, firefighters, and air traffic controllers have typically been exempted, reflecting their mandatory early retirement requirements.

Who Would Be Most Exposed If a Future Bill Passes

Based on how these bills have been drafted, the group most at risk in any future elimination would be current FERS employees who have not yet retired and who are not in special provision categories. If you are still working and planning to retire under MRA+30 or age 60+20, this is the scenario worth planning around. Not because it is likely to happen tomorrow, but because the idea clearly has enough support in one chamber of Congress to keep coming back.

People already retired and receiving the supplement have consistently been protected by the grandfathering language in every serious proposal. Special provision retirees have generally been carved out as well.

Only Congress Can End the Supplement

The supplement exists because Congress created it by statute. It is codified at 5 U.S.C. § 8421, and the only way to eliminate it is through new legislation that amends or repeals that section.¹ No executive order, agency decision, or OPM policy change can end the benefit. As long as the statute stands, OPM is legally required to pay the supplement to every qualifying retiree.

That distinction matters right now, because federal employees are hearing a great deal of talk about benefits being cut. Talk is not law. Until a bill passes both chambers of Congress and is signed by the president, the supplement continues unchanged.

Reduced Payments Are Not the Same as Elimination

Many retirees see their supplement reduced or drop to zero and assume Congress has changed the law. That is almost never what happened. The reduction is caused by the earnings test, a mechanism built into the supplement since its creation and codified at 5 U.S.C. § 8421a.³

If you work after retiring and earn above a certain threshold, your supplement is reduced. For 2026, the annual exempt amount is $24,480.⁴ For every $2 you earn above that limit, the supplement drops by $1. Only earned income counts; wages and self-employment income trigger the reduction, while investment income, rental income, and your basic FERS annuity do not. OPM uses your earnings from the prior calendar year to calculate the current year’s reduction.

If your post-retirement earnings are high enough, the earnings test can reduce your supplement all the way to zero. That looks like elimination, but it is the law working as designed. Stop earning above the limit and the supplement resumes.

Who Qualifies Under the Current Rules

While the supplement remains in place, eligibility depends on how you leave federal service. The benefit is available only to FERS employees who retire on an immediate annuity before age 62. If you are 62 or older when you retire, you apply for Social Security directly and the supplement does not apply.¹

For general FERS employees, two paths qualify: reaching your Minimum Retirement Age (between 55 and 57, depending on birth year) with at least 30 years of creditable service, or reaching age 60 with 20 or more years.⁵ Retiring at your MRA with 10 years of service under the MRA+10 provision does not qualify you for the supplement.

Law enforcement officers, firefighters, customs and border protection officers, and air traffic controllers can generally retire at age 50 with 20 years of covered service, or at any age with 25 years, and receive the supplement immediately on retiring.

Federal employees who leave through a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority offer or a reduction in force are also eligible, but the supplement does not start until they reach their MRA.⁶ Someone taking an early-out at age 52, for example, would collect a reduced annuity right away but would not see the supplement until reaching 55, 56, or 57, depending on birth year.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 US Code 8421 – Annuity Supplement
2
Congress.gov. FERS, MSPB, and FEHB Provisions in HR 1, as Passed by the House
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 US Code 8421a – Reductions on Account of Earnings from Work Performed While Entitled to an Annuity Supplement
4
Social Security Administration. Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test
5
GovInfo. 5 US Code 8412 – Immediate Retirement
6
OPM. Voluntary Early Retirement Authority