[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 246 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 246
Commemorating 80 years since the creation of Social Security.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
August 5, 2015
Mr. Wyden (for himself, Mr. Reid, Mr. Schumer, Ms. Stabenow, Ms.
Cantwell, Mr. Nelson, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Carper, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Brown,
Mr. Bennet, Mr. Casey, Mr. Warner, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr.
Booker, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Coons, Mr. Donnelly, Mr. Durbin, Mrs.
Feinstein, Mr. Franken, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Heinrich, Ms. Heitkamp,
Ms. Hirono, Mr. Kaine, Mr. King, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Manchin,
Mr. Markey, Mrs. McCaskill, Mr. Merkley, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Murphy, Mrs.
Murray, Mr. Peters, Mr. Reed, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Schatz, Mrs. Shaheen,
Mr. Tester, Mr. Udall, Ms. Warren, and Mr. Whitehouse) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Finance
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Commemorating 80 years since the creation of Social Security.
Whereas, on August 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social
Security Act into law, thereby establishing a vital--and ultimately
universal--insurance program for workers and families under which
workers earn coverage by working and paying Social Security taxes on
their earnings;
Whereas Congress further strengthened Social Security over the years by enacting
improvements to, and expansion of, retirement, survivors, and disability
benefits for workers and their families, and now Social Security
provides economic security to the Nation, and touches the life of nearly
every American;
Whereas Social Security is one program that offers two essential earned benefits
that are fundamentally linked: benefits for workers with disabilities
and benefits for retired workers;
Whereas in 2014, more than 48,000,000 retirement and survivors beneficiaries and
about 11,000,000 disability beneficiaries, including eligible family
members, received Social Security benefits;
Whereas Social Security benefits are modest but fundamental to the economic
security of our Nation, with the average disability benefit less than
$1,200 per month, or less than $14,000 per year--falling just above the
poverty line--and the average retirement benefit of close to $1,300 per
month, or less than $16,000 per year;
Whereas older Americans rely heavily on Social Security, with 9 out of 10
individuals age 65 and older receiving Social Security benefits, and
among elderly Social Security beneficiaries, 52 percent of married
couples and 74 percent of unmarried persons receive more than half of
their income from Social Security;
Whereas the Social Security Administration will issue almost $900,000,000,000 in
earned benefits this year, while more than 1,200 Social Security field
offices nationwide provide essential, accurate, and face-to-face
services to millions of Americans each day;
Whereas workers who are supported by disability benefits today will receive
retirement benefits at full retirement age because Social Security
Disability Insurance ensures that workers who are no longer able to work
and their families are protected from the loss of future retirement
benefits;
Whereas Social Security's Disability Insurance protections are especially
important to older workers, with 70 percent of Social Security
Disability Insurance beneficiaries older than 50 and 30 percent older
than 60;
Whereas Social Security has evolved with changes in the American workforce, with
the number of working women who are fully insured for Social Security
benefits more than doubling between 1970 and today;
Whereas Social Security provides fundamental protection to workers of every age,
including young workers, who have a one-in-three chance of dying or
needing Social Security disability benefits before reaching retirement
age;
Whereas Social Security is America's ``family insurance plan'', providing more
than 9 out of 10 American workers and their families basic but critical
protection in the event they can no longer work to support themselves
and their families due to a severe medical condition;
Whereas Social Security provides a lifeline for almost 7,000,000 children
nationwide who receive benefits directly because a parent has died,
become disabled, or retired, or indirectly because they live with a
relative who is eligible to collect benefits;
Whereas Social Security is efficient--administrative expenses are less than one
percent of benefits paid--and benefit payments are 99-percent accurate;
and
Whereas Social Security has dramatically reduced poverty, with research
indicating that the entire reduction in elderly poverty between 1967 and
2000 was due to Social Security, that without Social Security 40 percent
of the population older than 65 would be poor, and that Social Security
benefits lifted an estimated 2,000,000 children out of poverty in 2013:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) Social Security provides earned benefits that are
crucial to the economic security of our Nation and must be
preserved to ensure future generations of Americans are
protected;
(2) with the strong support of the Federal Government,
Social Security must continue to deliver guaranteed retirement
and life insurance benefits for workers and their families, as
well as serve as an indispensable safety net for the most
vulnerable segments of American society, including children,
persons with disabilities, the elderly, and the poor; and
(3) while the Trust Funds that support Social Security are
projected to pay all benefits through 2034, Congress should act
to ensure this vital program can support workers and families
far into the future, but should reject proposals that weaken or
privatize Social Security and should consider proposals to
strengthen Social Security benefits.
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