H. Res. 662 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

July 31, 2009. 

Whereas people in the United States are living longer and the 

cost of retirement continues to rise, in part because the 

number of employers providing retiree health coverage 

continues to decline, and retiree health care costs continue to increase at a rapid pace; 

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 2⁄3

of workers or their spouses are currently saving for retirement and that the actual amount of retirement savings of workers lags far behind the amount that will be 

needed to adequately fund their retirement years; 

Whereas saving for one’s retirement is a key component to 

overall financial health and security during retirement 

years; 

Whereas many workers may not be aware of their options for 

saving for retirement or may not have focused on the importance of, and need for, saving for their own retirement; 
2 

•HRES 662 EH 

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 them may not be taking advantage of 

employer-sponsored defined contribution plans at all or to 

the full extent allowed by the plans as prescribed by Federal law; 

Whereas many workers who are saving for retirement in taxpreferred vehicles have experienced declines in their account values as a result of the recent economic downturn 

and market decline, making continued contributions all 

the more important; 

Whereas all workers, including public- and private-sector employees, employees of tax-exempt organizations, and selfemployed individuals, can benefit from increased awareness of the need to develop personal budgets and financial plans including retirement savings strategies, and to 

take advantage of the availability of tax-preferred savings 

vehicles to assist them in saving for retirement; and 

Whereas October 18 through October 24, 2009, has been designated as ‘‘National Save for Retirement Week’’: Now, 

therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

(1) supports the goals and ideals of ‘‘National Save 

for Retirement Week’’, including raising public awareness of the various tax-preferred retirement vehicles as 

important tools for personal savings and retirement financial security; 

(2) supports the need to raise public awareness of 

efficiently utilizing substantial tax revenues that cur-
3 

•HRES 662 EH 

rently subsidize retirement savings, revenues estimated 

to be in excess of $120,400,000,000 for the 2008 fiscal 

year budget; 

(3) supports the need to raise public awareness of 

the importance of saving adequately for retirement, and 

the availability of tax-preferred employer-sponsored retirement savings vehicles; and 

(4) calls on the States, localities, schools, universities, nonprofit organizations, businesses, other entities, 

and the people of the United States to observe this week 

with appropriate programs and activities with the goal of 

increasing retirement savings for all the people of the 

United States. 

Attest: 

Clerk.