Download This Bill in Microsoft Word format

Bill 3689

                    Current Status

Bill Number:                      3689
Type of Legislation:              Concurrent Resolution CR
Introducing Body:                 House
Introduced Date:                  19990310
Primary Sponsor:                  Inabinett
All Sponsors:                     Inabinett, Sharpe, Littlejohn, Bailey, 
                                  Bales, Barfield, Bowers, Breeland, J. Brown, 
                                  T. Brown, Canty, Cobb-Hunter, Davenport, 
                                  Emory, Gourdine, Jennings, Kennedy, Lloyd, 
                                  Mack, M. McLeod, W. McLeod, Moody-Lawrence, 
                                  J.H. Neal, Neilson, Pinckney, Rutherford, 
                                  Whatley, Whipper and Wilkes
Drafted Document Number:          l:\council\bills\nbd\11203jm99.doc
Residing Body:                    House
Current Committee:                Invitations and Memorial Resolutions 
                                  Committee 24 HIMR
Subject:                          Social Security System, Congress requests 
                                  to protect integrity of; Social Services, 
                                  Aging


                        History

Body    Date      Action Description                     Com     Leg Involved
______  ________  ______________________________________ _______ ____________
House   19990310  Introduced, referred to Committee      24 HIMR


                             Versions of This Bill

MEMORIALIZING THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS TO PROTECT THE INTEGRITY OF SOCIAL SECURITY AND TO TAKE CERTAIN DEFINITE, ENUMERATED STEPS OF RESPONSIBILITY AIMED AT STRENGTHENING AND PROTECTING THE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM.

Whereas, Social Security's portable, progressive, and guaranteed-for-life retirement benefits and social insurance protections are vital to all families, especially to retired persons, providing more than half of their retirement income, and to persons with disabilities and their dependents and survivors; and

Whereas, for over sixty years the Social Security program has never missed a single payment, has kept countless citizens out of poverty, and has provided a solid basis for family financial security and a decent retirement for working, middle class, and low-income families; and

Whereas, some persons and organizations and companies with a vested interest in investment transactions are proposing to "privatize" Social Security by shifting a portion of Social Security payroll taxes into mandatory private investment accounts and thus putting these investment funds at risk of stock and bond market fluctuations and declines; and

Whereas, such private investment accounts would end the guaranteed level of retirement and disability benefit supports now enjoyed by more than forty million citizens and would reduce or end guaranteed benefits for families, survivors, and spouses of Social Security beneficiaries; and

Whereas, Social Security is America's premier family protection system, providing working families with crucial income insurance in the event of the retirement, death, or disability of a family wage earner; and

Whereas, Social Security is the only secure source of retirement income for the overwhelming majority of Americans, with two in three Older American households relying on Social Security for half or more of their income; and

Whereas, the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds is reporting that Social Security is secure and, even if nothing were done, can pay full benefits at least until 2032, with seventy to seventy-five percent of benefits covered by expected revenues after that time; and,

Whereas, public and private economic forecasts show growing budget surpluses for the federal government over the coming decades, surpluses which should be used to support the retirement security needs of all Americans. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

That the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina, by this resolution, urges the following:

(1) That congress support the President's proposal to allocate sixty-two percent of the federal unified budget surplus to the Social Security Trust Funds;

(2) That Congress support proposals to make the financing of the system more equitable by raising the cap on earnings subject to the Social Security payroll contribution tax at least to the historic level covering ninety percent of all earnings and give serious consideration to a Social Security tax on some unearned income;

(3) That Congress improve benefits for single elderly women and others who do not spend full careers in the paid workforce because of their care for children and other family members and who thus experience the highest rates of poverty, despite their Social Security benefits;

(4) That working families be able to count on full disability and survivor protections to meet their needs, including spouses and children;

(5) That Social Security benefits not be subject to the whims of the market and that private investment accounts never be substituted for the core-defined benefits Social Security currently provides;

(6) That responsible changes to strengthen Social Security be based on realistic assumptions about the economy, as well as about the uncertainty and risk inherent in investments in private markets;

(7) That proposals requiring sharp benefit cuts, including raising the normal retirement age and reduction of cost of living adjustments, be resisted and defeated;

(8) That proposals to privatize Social Security, thereby destroying its guarantees of lifetime benefits to American citizens, be rejected by the President and Congress;

(9) That the President and Congress ensure that Social Security benefits continue to protect women who experience lower lifetime earnings and longer periods of time outside of work and that no changes to Social Security worsen their position or the position of low-income workers;

(10) That the President and Congress make no changes to Social Security that would increase the age of retirement.

(11) That Congress enact policies to encourage all employers to provide pensions and all citizens to increase their personal savings and that this be done in addition to, and not at the expense of, the existing Social Security program; and

(12) That the federal budget surplus be utilized to assure Social Security's solvency into the next century for senior citizens and persons with disabilities and for their families.

Be it further resolved that copies of this resolution be forwarded to the President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, and each member of South Carolina's Congressional Delegation, all at Washington, D. C.

This web page was last updated on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 9:15 A.M.