[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 14858-14859]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   NATIONAL SAVE FOR RETIREMENT WEEK

  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the HELP 
Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 555 and 
the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk 
will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 555) supporting the goals and ideals 
     of ``National Save for Retirement Week,'' including raising 
     public awareness of the various tax-preferred retirement 
     vehicles and increasing personal financial literacy.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. PRYOR. I further ask that the resolution be agreed to, the 
preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be made and laid upon 
the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements 
relating to the resolution be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 555) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 555

       Whereas people in the United States are living longer, and 
     the cost of retirement is increasing significantly;
       Whereas Social Security remains the bedrock of retirement 
     income for the great majority of the people of the United 
     States but was never intended by Congress to be the sole 
     source of retirement income for families;
       Whereas recent data from the Employee Benefit Research 
     Institute indicates that, in the United States, less than \3/
     5\ of workers or their spouses are currently saving for 
     retirement, and the actual amount of retirement savings of 
     workers is much less than the amount needed to adequately 
     fund their retirement years;
       Whereas the financial literacy of workers in the United 
     States is important to their understanding of the need to 
     save for retirement;
       Whereas saving for retirement is a key component to overall 
     financial health and security during retirement years, and 
     the importance of financial literacy in planning for 
     retirement must be advocated;
       Whereas many workers may not be aware of their options in 
     saving for retirement or may not have focused on the 
     importance of, and need for, saving for retirement;
       Whereas many employees have available to them, through 
     their employers, access to defined benefit and defined 
     contribution plans to assist them in preparing for 
     retirement, yet many of those employees may not be taking 
     advantage of those plans at all or to the full extent allowed 
     by Federal law;
       Whereas the need to save for retirement is important even 
     during economic downturns or market declines, which make 
     continued contributions all the more important;
       Whereas all workers, including public and private sector 
     employees, employees of tax-exempt organizations, and self-
     employed individuals, can benefit from developing personal 
     budgets and financial plans that include retirement savings 
     strategies and taking advantage of tax-preferred retirement 
     savings vehicles; and
       Whereas October 21 through October 27, 2012, has been 
     designated as ``National Save for Retirement Week'': Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) supports the goals and ideals of ``National Save for 
     Retirement Week'', including raising public awareness of the 
     importance of saving adequately for retirement;
       (2) supports the need to raise public awareness of the 
     availability of a variety of ways to save for retirement 
     which are favored under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and 
     are utilized by many people in the United States, but which 
     should be utilized by more; and
       (3) calls on the States, localities, schools, universities, 
     nonprofit organizations, businesses, other entities, and the 
     people of the United States to observe National Save for 
     Retirement Week with appropriate programs and activities, 
     with the goal of increasing the retirement savings and 
     personal financial literacy of all people in the United 
     States.


[[Page 14859]]



                          ____________________