[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 174 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 174

Recognizing the unique effects that proposals to reform Social Security 
                           may have on women.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 3, 2003

   Ms. DeLauro (for herself, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Mr. 
  Pomeroy, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Brown of 
Ohio, Mr. Tierney, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Mr. Honda, Ms. Solis, Mrs. 
 Maloney, Mr. Stark, Mr. Boswell, Mr. Farr, Ms. Lee, Ms. McCollum, Ms. 
 Roybal-Allard, Mr. Allen, Mr. Case, Mr. George Miller of California, 
Ms. Berkley, and Ms. Lofgren) submitted the following resolution; which 
            was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Recognizing the unique effects that proposals to reform Social Security 
                           may have on women.

Whereas the Social Security benefit structure is of particular importance to 
        low-earning wives and widows, with 63 percent of women beneficiaries 
        aged 62 or older receiving wife's or widow's benefits;
Whereas three-quarters of unmarried and widowed elderly women rely on Social 
        Security for over half of their income;
Whereas without Social Security benefits, the elderly poverty rate among women 
        would have been 52.2 percent and among widows would have been 60.6 
        percent;
Whereas women tend to live longer and tend to have lower lifetime earnings than 
        men do;
Whereas women spend an average of 11.5 years out of their careers to care for 
        their families, and are more likely to work part-time than full-time; 
        and
Whereas during these years in the workforce, women earn an average of 70 cents 
        for every dollar men earn: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives recognizes the unique 
obstacles that women face in ensuring retirement security and survivor 
and disability stability and the essential role that Social Security 
plays in guaranteeing inflation-protected financial stability for women 
throughout their entire old age, and it is the sense of the House of 
Representatives that the Congress and the President should take these 
factors into account when considering proposals to reform the Social 
Security system.
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