[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 50 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 50

To express the sense of the Senate regarding the correction of cost-of-
                          living adjustments.


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                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 5, 1997

    Mr. Roth (for himself and Mr. Moynihan) submitted the following 
       resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
To express the sense of the Senate regarding the correction of cost-of-
                          living adjustments.

Whereas the final report of the Senate Finance Committee's Advisory Commission 
        to Study the Consumer Price Index, chaired by Professor Michael Boskin, 
        has concluded that the Consumer Price Index overstates the cost of 
        living in the United States by 1.1 percentage points;
Whereas Dr. Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal 
        Reserve System, has testified before the Senate Finance Committee that 
        ``the best available evidence suggests that there is virtually no chance 
        that the CPI as currently published understates'' the cost of living and 
        that there is ``a very high probability that the upward bias ranges 
        between \1/2\ percentage point per year and 1\1/2\ percentage points per 
        year'';
Whereas the overstatement of the cost of living by the Consumer Price Index has 
        been recognized by economists since at least 1961, when a report noting 
        the existence of the overstatement was issued by a National Bureau of 
        Economic Research Committee, chaired by Professor George J. Stigler;
Whereas Congress and the President, through the indexing of Federal tax 
        brackets, Social Security benefits, and other Federal program benefits, 
        have undertaken to protect taxpayers and beneficiaries of such programs 
        from the erosion of purchasing power due to inflation;
Whereas Congress and the President intended the indexing of Federal tax 
        brackets, Social Security benefits, and other Federal program benefits 
        to accurately reflect changes in the cost of living; and
Whereas the overstatement of the cost of living increases the deficit and 
        undermines the equitable administration of Federal benefits and tax 
        policies: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that all cost-of-
living adjustments required by statute should accurately reflect the 
best available estimate of changes in the cost of living.
                                 <all>