IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 420 

Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the need to re-weave America’s 

social safety net to respond to the needs of the 21st century economy 

and labor market. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2008 

Mr. MCDERMOTT submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the need to 

re-weave America’s social safety net to respond to the 

needs of the 21st century economy and labor market. 

Whereas the real median wage for American male workers 

was lower in 2007 than in 1973; 

Whereas between 1947 and 1973 the typical American family’s income doubled; since 1973 the average family’s income has only risen 20 percent; 

Whereas wage stagnation over the past 3 decades coupled 

with rising costs and declining access to affordable health 

care and retirement benefits has strained the financial 

situations of millions of American workers; 


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Whereas the United States economy has shed more than 

600,000 jobs in the first 8 months of 2008 and the national unemployment rate is over 6 percent; 

Whereas the current unemployment insurance system only 

covers about 1 out of every 3 American workers who lose 

their jobs; 

Whereas the average weekly unemployment benefit in 2007 

was just 34.8 percent of the average weekly wage; 

Whereas more than half of all American workers receive 

health insurance through their employer, but only about 

20 percent of low-wage workers do; 

Whereas more Americans are losing access to employer-provided coverage and premiums for employer-provided coverage are increasing faster than wages; 

Whereas the increasing cost of health care and the stagnation 

in wages has resulted in 45 percent of adults reporting 

problems getting needed health care because of costs; 

Whereas almost 47 million Americans had no health insurance in 2007, an increase of 7.2 million since 2000; 

Whereas dependent care is a fact of life for many American 

workers as more than 1⁄3 of all workers currently have 

children under the age of 18 and a comparable number 

of workers have had to provide care for an adult family 

member; 

Whereas the cost of child care has been increasing rapidly, 

the Child Care and Development Block Grant only serves 

about 1 in 7 federally eligible children, with wait-lists 

common in many States, and the Federal tax credit for 

dependent care is unavailable to many low-income families; 


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Whereas fewer than half of private-sector workers are covered 

and eligible for unpaid leave authorized by the Family 

Medical Leave Act; 

Whereas only about half of American workers qualify for any 

paid sick leave, including less than 40 percent of lowwage workers; 

Whereas the absence of paid sick and family leave has forced 

Americans to make untenable choices between needed income and jobs and the health and safety of their families; 

Whereas the share of American workers with a traditional, 

defined-benefit pension plan is rapidly falling; 

Whereas half of American households have no retirement savings; 

Whereas defined contribution pension plans benefit higher income workers substantially more than low- and middleincome workers; 

Whereas research estimates that 40 percent of baby boomers, 

born between 1946 and 1964, will be unable to maintain 

their standard of living when they retire and that 50 percent workers who were born between 1965 and 1972 will 

be unable to maintain their standard of living in retirement; 

Whereas it is in the national interest to ensure that Americans can retire with dignity and the means to sustain 

their pre-retirement standard of living; 

Whereas when he signed the Social Security Act on August 

14, 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt said, ‘‘We can 

never insure 100 percent of the population against 100 

percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we 

have tried to frame a law which gives some measure of 


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protection to the average citizen and his family against 

the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age’’; and 

Whereas it is necessary to re-weave America’s social safety 

net so it responds to the needs of the 21st century American economy and labor market: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), That it is the Sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) stagnant wages, declining access to em4 ployer-sponsored health care and pensions, and the 

5 rising cost of living all contribute to greater financial 

6 insecurity for the average American worker; 

7 (2) the Social Security Act provides the essen8 tial basic social safety net for American workers and 

9 their families, and it should be improved and ex10 panded upon to meet the needs of the 21st century 

11 American workforce; and 

12 (3) in addition to responding to the needs of 

13 American workers and their families when they expe14 rience unemployment and face hardship, the Federal 

15 government should pursue enactment of policies that 

16 proactively enable workers to improve their skills 

17 throughout their career to ensure these workers, and 

18 the businesses that rely upon them, are as globally 

19 competitive as possible. 

Æ 


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