II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 582 

To establish a point of order against any efforts to reduce benefits paid 

to Social Security recipients, raise the retirement age, or create private 

retirement accounts under title II of the Social Security Act. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 15, 2011 

Mr. SANDERS (for himself, Mr. AKAKA, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. BROWN of 

Ohio, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mrs. BOXER, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. BEGICH, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. LAUTENBERG) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To establish a point of order against any efforts to reduce 

benefits paid to Social Security recipients, raise the retirement age, or create private retirement accounts under 

title II of the Social Security Act. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Social Security Protec5 tion Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) Social Security is the most successful and 

2 reliable social program in our Nation’s history. 

3 (2) For 75 years, through good times and bad, 

4 Social Security has reliably kept millions of senior 

5 citizens, individuals with disabilities, and children 

6 out of poverty. 

7 (3) Before President Franklin Roosevelt signed 

8 the Social Security Act into law on August 14, 1935, 

9 approximately half of the senior citizens in the 

10 United States lived in poverty; less than 10 percent 

11 of seniors live in poverty today. 

12 (4) Social Security has succeeded in protecting 

13 working Americans and their families from dev14 astating drops in household income due to lost 

15 wages resulting from retirement, disability, or the 

16 death of a spouse or parent. 

17 (5) More than 53,000,000 Americans receive 

18 Social Security benefits, including 36,500,000 retir19 ees and their spouses, 9,200,000 veterans, 8,200,000 

20 disabled individuals and their spouses, 4,500,000 

21 surviving spouses of deceased workers, and 

22 4,300,000 dependent children. 

23 (6) Social Security has never contributed to the 

24 Federal budget deficit or the national debt, and benVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:16 Mar 16, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S582.IS S582

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1 efit cuts should not be proposed as a solution to re2 ducing the Federal budget deficit. 

3 (7) Social Security is not in a crisis or going 

4 bankrupt, as the Social Security Trust Funds have 

5 been running surpluses for the last quarter of a cen6 tury. 

7 (8) According to the Social Security Adminis8 tration, the Social Security Trust Funds currently 

9 maintain a $2,600,000,000,000 surplus that is 

10 project to grow to $4,200,000,000,000 by 2023. 

11 (9) According to the Social Security Adminis12 tration, even if no changes are made to the Social 

13 Security program, full benefits will be available to 

14 every recipient until 2037, with enough funding re15 maining after that date to pay about 78 percent of 

16 promised benefits. 

17 (10) According to the Social Security Adminis18 tration, ‘‘money flowing into the [Social Security] 

19 trust funds is invested in U.S. Government securi20 ties . . . the investments held by the trust funds are 

21 backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Gov22 ernment. The Government has always repaid Social 

23 Security, with interest.’’. 

24 (11) All workers who contribute into Social Se25 curity through the 12.4 percent payroll tax, which is 


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1 divided equally between employees and employers on 

2 income up to $106,800, deserve to have a dignified 

3 and secure retirement. 

4 (12) Social Security provides the majority of in5 come for two-thirds of the elderly population in the 

6 United States, with approximately one-third of elder7 ly individuals receiving nearly all of their income 

8 from Social Security. 

9 (13) Overall, Social Security benefits for retir10 ees currently average a modest $14,000 a year, with 

11 the average for women receiving benefits being less 

12 than $12,000 per year. 

13 (14) Nearly 1 out of every 4 adult Social Secu14 rity beneficiaries has served in the United States 

15 military. 

16 (15) Social Security is not solely a retirement 

17 program, as it also serves as a disability insurance 

18 program for American workers who become perma19 nently disabled and unable to work. 

20 (16) The Social Security Disability Insurance 

21 program is a critical lifeline for millions of American 

22 workers, as a 20-year-old worker faces a 30 percent 

23 chance of becoming disabled before reaching retire24 ment age. 


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1 (17) Proposals to privatize the Social Security 

2 program would jeopardize the security of millions of 

3 Americans by subjecting them to the ups-and-downs 

4 of the volatile stock market as the source of their re5 tirement benefits. 

6 (18) Raising the retirement age would jeop7 ardize the retirement future of millions of American 

8 workers, particularly those in physically demanding 

9 jobs as well as lower-income women, African-Ameri10 cans, and Latinos, all of whom have a much lower 

11 life expectancy than wealthier Americans. 

12 (19) Social Security benefits have already been 

13 cut by 13 percent, as the Normal Retirement Age 

14 was raised in 1983 from 65 years of age to 67 years 

15 of age by 2022. 

16 (20) According to the Social Security Adminis17 tration, raising the retirement age for future retirees 

18 would reduce benefits by 6 to 7 percent for each 

19 year that the Normal Retirement Age is raised. 

20 (21) Reducing cost-of-living adjustments for 

21 current or future Social Security beneficiaries would 

22 force millions of such individuals to choose between 

23 heating their homes, putting food on the table, or 

24 paying for their prescription drugs. 


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1 (22) Social Security is a promise that this Na2 tion cannot afford to break. 

3 SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON CHANGES TO THE SOCIAL SECU4 RITY PROGRAM FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE 

5 BENEFICIARIES. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi7 sion of law, it shall not be in order in the Senate or the 

8 House of Representatives to consider, for purposes of the 

9 old-age, survivors, and disability insurance benefits pro10 gram established under title II of the Social Security Act 

11 (42 U.S.C. 401 et seq.), any legislation that— 

12 (1) increases the retirement age (as defined in 

13 section 216(l)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 

14 U.S.C. 416(l)(1))) or the early retirement age (as 

15 defined in section 216(l)(2) of the Social Security 

16 Act (42 U.S.C. 416(l)(2))) for individuals receiving 

17 benefits under title II of the Social Security Act on 

18 or after the date of enactment of this Act; 

19 (2) reduces cost-of-living increases for individ20 uals receiving benefits under title II of the Social Se21 curity Act on or after the date of enactment of this 

22 Act, as determined under section 215(i) of the Social 

23 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 415(i)); 

24 (3) reduces benefit payment amounts for indi25 viduals receiving benefits under title II of the Social 


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1 Security Act on or after the date of enactment of 

2 this Act; or 

3 (4) creates private retirement accounts for any 

4 of the benefits individuals receive under title II of 

5 the Social Security Act on or after the date of enact6 ment of this Act. 

7 (b) WAIVER OR SUSPENSION.— 

8 (1) IN THE SENATE.—The provisions of this 

9 section may be waived or suspended in the Senate 

10 only by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the 

11 Members, present and voting. 

12 (2) IN THE HOUSE.—The provisions of this sec13 tion may be waived or suspended in the House of 

14 Representatives only by a rule or order proposing 

15 only to waive such provisions by an affirmative vote 

16 of two-thirds of the Members, present and voting. 

17 (c) POINT OF ORDER PROTECTION.—In the House 

18 of Representatives, it shall not be in order to consider a 

19 rule or order that waives the application of paragraph (2) 

20 of subsection (b). 

21 (d) MOTION TO SUSPEND.—It shall not be in order 

22 for the Speaker to entertain a motion to suspend the appli23 cation of this section under clause 1 of rule XV of the 

24 Rules of the House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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