III 112th CONGRESS 1st Session S. RES. 230 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 11, 2011 Mr. Whitehouse (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. Merkley, and Mr. Franken) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Finance RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the Senate that any agreement to reduce the budget deficit should not include cuts to Social Security benefits or Medicare benefits.

Whereas over 34,000,000 retired workers currently receive Social Security benefits in amounts that average a modest $14,100 a year; Whereas, in 2008, 23 percent of retired workers receiving Social Security benefits depended on those benefits for all or almost all of their income; Whereas according to AARP, Social Security benefits kept 36 percent of seniors out of poverty in 2008; Whereas reducing Social Security benefits would cause many seniors to have to choose between food, drugs, rent, and heat; Whereas 95 percent of seniors in the United States, who numbered almost 37,000,000 in 2008, got their health care coverage through the Medicare program; Whereas without Medicare benefits, seniors, many of whom live off of Social Security benefits, would have to turn to the costly and uncertain private market for health care coverage; Whereas the Social Security program and the Medicare program are extremely successful social insurance programs that permit seniors in America to retire with dignity and security after a lifetime of hard work; and Whereas the Social Security program and the Medicare program help relieve young American families from worry about their own futures, allowing freedom of opportunity in America: Now, therefore, be it

That it is the sense of the Senate that any agreement to reduce the budget deficit should not include cuts to Social Security benefits or Medicare benefits.