Title: A resolution affirming the commitment of the Senate to protect and expand the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income programs.
Policy area: Social Welfare

Summary:
This resolution recognizes the long history and positive economic effects of the Social Security programs. It also expresses the belief that the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income programs should continue to be funded through mandatory spending.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 819 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 819

Affirming the commitment of the Senate to protect and expand the Social 
          Security and Supplemental Security Income programs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 29, 2022

Mr. Brown (for himself, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Casey, Mr. Schumer, Mrs. Murray, 
Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Whitehouse, Ms. Warren, Mr. 
  Padilla, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Markey, Mr. Booker, Ms. 
Hirono, Ms. Duckworth, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Sanders, Ms. 
Cortez Masto, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Reed, Mr. Schatz, Ms. Hassan, Mr. Kelly, 
   Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Smith, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Lujan, Mr. 
Warnock, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Leahy, Ms. Rosen, Mr. Peters, Mr. Merkley, 
and Mr. Bennet) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
                      to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Affirming the commitment of the Senate to protect and expand the Social 
          Security and Supplemental Security Income programs.

Whereas Social Security has served as a cornerstone of economic security for 
        millions of individuals in the United States since the Social Security 
        Act (42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) was signed into law by President Franklin 
        Delano Roosevelt in 1935, when he declared, ``It is, in short, a law 
        that will take care of human needs and at the same time provide the 
        United States an economic structure of vastly greater soundness'';
Whereas the Social Security system of the United States ensures basic retirement 
        security and financial stability, provides disability insurance that 
        helps keep disabled workers and their families afloat in case of work-
        limiting disability, and ensures continued support of survivors;
Whereas, with the establishment of the Supplemental Security Income program, 
        signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon in 1972, Congress built 
        upon the bedrock protections included in the Social Security Act (42 
        U.S.C. 301 et seq.), assuring ``that elderly, blind, and disabled people 
        would no longer subsist on below-poverty incomes'' and disabled and 
        older workers, whose health prevents them from attaining the work 
        history needed for protection under Social Security, are able to 
        maintain basic dignity;
Whereas Social Security is an earned benefit that workers in the United States 
        pay into with each paycheck, providing a guaranteed level of financial 
        stability in retirement that cannot be assured with private pensions or 
        personal assets alone;
Whereas proposals to fundamentally weaken the funding or guaranteed benefits of 
        Social Security include--

    (1) shifting Social Security to a discretionary program;

    (2) raising the retirement age;

    (3) privatizing the Trust Funds; and

    (4) eventually ending the Social Security program altogether;

Whereas data from the Bureau of the Census indicates that--

    (1) without Social Security benefits more than 20,000,000 more 
individuals in the United States would live in poverty; and

    (2) approximately 1 in 4 individuals aged 65 and older in the United 
States have little to no income aside from Social Security; and

Whereas more than 70,000,000 seniors, people with disabilities, their 
        dependents, and the dependents of deceased workers rely on Social 
        Security and Supplemental Security Income to meet basic needs and live 
        in dignity: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate, in recognition of the long history of 
the Social Security system of the United States assuring basic 
financial security for millions of workers and families--
            (1) celebrates the economic stability Social Security has 
        provided for generations of families in the United States;
            (2) affirms that Social Security is a solemn promise to the 
        people of the United States that should be upheld for 
        generations to come; and
            (3) believes Social Security and Supplemental Security 
        Income should continue to be mandatory spending, so as not to 
        jeopardize the certainty and the financial security that the 
        people of the United States have come to expect.
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