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SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) Social Security provides essential income se-
curity through retirement, disability, and survivor
benefits for over 45 million Americans of all ages,
without which nearly 50 percent of seniors would
live in poverty;
(2) Social Security is of particular importance
for low earners, especially widows and women caring
for children, without which nearly 53 percent of el-
derly women would live in poverty;
(3) each payday, American workers send their
hard-earned payroll taxes to Social Security and in
return are promised income protections for them-
selves and their families upon retirement, disability,
or death, and that commitment must be kept;
(4) Social Security payments to beneficiaries
will exceed worker contributions to the Social Secu-
rity trust funds beginning in 2016, as demographics,
including the aging baby boom generation and in-
creasing life expectancies, will result in fewer work-
ers per beneficiary and threaten Social Security’s es-
sential income safety net with financial instability
and insolvency;
(5) deferring action to save Social Security will
result in loss of public confidence in the program,
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will increase the likelihood of spending cuts to other
essential programs, and will expose beneficiaries,
particularly those with low earnings, to poverty-
threatening benefit cuts or reduce workers’ take-
home pay through burdensome payroll tax increases;
(6) workers’ ability to save and invest for their
own retirement will continue to be particularly im-
portant, especially for younger workers, to enhance
their own retirement security; and
(7) the President should be commended for rec-
ognizing that Social Security is not prepared to fully
fund the retirement of the baby boom and future
generations and for establishing the bipartisan
President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Secu-
rity, which will report its recommendations this fall.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.
It is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) the President’s Commission to Strengthen
Social Security, recognizing the immense financial
commitment of every American worker into the So-
cial Security system, should present in its rec-
ommendations innovative ways to protect that com-
mitment without lowering benefits or increasing
taxes; and
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(2) the President and the Congress should join
to develop legislation to strengthen Social Security
as soon as possible, and such legislation should—
(A) recognize the obstacles women face in
securing financial stability at retirement or in
cases of disability or death and the essential
role that the Social Security program plays in
providing income security for women;
(B) recognize the unique needs of minori-
ties and the critical role the Social Security pro-
gram plays in preventing poverty and providing
financial security for them and their families
when income is reduced or lost due to retire-
ment, disability, or death; and
(C) guarantee current law promised bene-
fits, including cost-of-living adjustments that
fully index for inflation, for current and future
retirees, without increasing taxes.
Passed the House of Representatives December 12,
2001.
Attest:
Clerk.
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. CON. RES. 282
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of Congress that the Social
Security promise should be kept.