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 fam-
ily’s income doubled; since 1973 the average family’s in-
come 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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•HCON 420 IH 
Whereas the United States economy has shed more than 
600,000 jobs in the first 8 months of 2008 and the na-
tional 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-pro-
vided coverage and premiums for employer-provided cov-
erage 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 insur-
ance 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 fami-
lies; 
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•HCON 420 IH 
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 low- 
wage workers; 
Whereas the absence of paid sick and family leave has forced 
Americans to make untenable choices between needed in-
come 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 sav-
ings; 
Whereas defined contribution pension plans benefit higher in-
come workers substantially more than low- and middle- 
income 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 per-
cent workers who were born between 1965 and 1972 will 
be unable to maintain their standard of living in retire-
ment; 
Whereas it is in the national interest to ensure that Ameri-
cans 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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