WASHINGTON– The House passed legislation that would provide comprehensive Social Security benefits to millions of people, bringing it one step closer to passing into law.

The Social Security bill won bipartisan support in the House on Tuesday, 327 to 75, in what is now lame duck time for Congress. The bill now heads to the Senate, where passage is not assured despite considerable support.

Here’s what you need to know about the legislation and what could happen next.

WHAT DOES THE BILL DO?

Decades in the making, the bill would repeal two federal policies — the Windfall Elimination Clause and Government Pension Offset — that currently limit Social Security benefits for about 2.8 million people, according to Congressional Research Service reports.

The policies largely reduce payments to two groups of Social Security beneficiaries: people who also receive a pension from a job that is not covered by Social Security and the surviving spouses of Social Security beneficiaries who receive their own government pension.

People who worked in state, local and federal governments were greatly affected by the policies, as were teachers, firefighters and police officers, according to lawmakers and advocates.

Both provisions would be repealed by the bill, increasing Social Security payments for many.

WHAT WOULD THE COST OF THE EXTENSION OF SERVICES BE?

The budgetary effect of this legislation is significant, adding about $195 billion to federal deficits over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

That means increased budgetary pressure on Social Security trust funds, which were already estimated to be unable to pay full benefits starting in 2035. Some conservatives in the House have tried to block the legislation because of its cost.

Supporters of the bill in the House acknowledged the fiscal impact but said it was a matter of fairness.

“For more than 40 years, Social Security trust funds have been artificially propped up by stolen benefits that millions of Americans have paid for and their families deserve,” said Rep. Garret Graves, R-La. and Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., the bill’s lead sponsors in the House.

“The time has come to put an end to this theft,” they said.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

The Social Security bill has 63 sponsors in the Senate — a significant number because 60 votes are needed to pass most legislation in the House.

Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, the lead sponsors, urged their colleagues to pass the bill as soon as possible.

But the Senate has a busy schedule for the remaining weeks of the year, with government funding, disaster relief and an annual defense bill to pass likely to take up considerable time.

If passed by the Senate, the bill would go to President Joe Biden. If the bill is signed into law, the changes would take effect for benefits payable after December 2023.

But if the bill doesn’t pass the Senate before Jan. 3, when a new session of Congress begins, it will expire and its supporters will have to start over.