AJR32,1,106 Whereas, Social Security's income protections — guaranteed, lifelong benefits,
7cost-of-living adjustments to guard against inflation, increased benefits for
8families, greater income replacement for low-income workers, and disability and
9survivor benefits — are the backbone of retirement security and family protection
10in the United States; and

AJR32,1,1311 Whereas, Social Security provides crucial, often indispensable income
12protection for the 47 million individuals — one of every 6 Americans — receiving
13benefits; and

AJR32,2,3

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1Whereas, Social Security is the nation's most successful and most important
2family income protection program, but it has long-term funding needs that should
3be addressed; and

AJR32,2,74 Whereas, some policymakers propose to address these needs by cutting
5guaranteed benefits and privatizing Social Security, that is, diverting one-third or
6more of workers' payroll tax contributions out of the Social Security trust fund and
7into private investment accounts; and

AJR32,2,118 Whereas, privatization will worsen Social Security's funding needs by draining
9resources from the Social Security trust fund into private accounts, increasing the
10federal deficit by $2 trillion over the first decade alone and more in the future and
11putting the citizens of this country in deeper debt to foreign creditors; and

AJR32,2,1512 Whereas, some officials have suggested the federal government will not pay
13back the money it has taken from the Social Security trust fund over the past 20 years
14and used for other things, thereby denying working families the money they paid into
15Social Security and leading to further benefit cuts; and

AJR32,2,1916 Whereas, privatizing Social Security will cut guaranteed benefits by 30 percent
17for young workers, even for those who do not participate in private accounts, costing
18them $152,000 over their retirements, denying them benefits they have earned, and
19imperiling their economic security; and

AJR32,2,2320 Whereas, cutting guaranteed benefits will hurt the elderly because Social
21Security is the only secure source of retirement income for most Americans,
22providing at least one-half of the income of nearly two-thirds of older American
23households and lifting more than 11 million seniors out of poverty; and

AJR32,3,324 Whereas, cutting guaranteed benefits will hurt women and people of color, as
25they are more likely than Caucasian men to rely on Social Security for most of their

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1retirement income, they earn less than Caucasian men and are thus less able to save
2for retirement, and they are less likely than Caucasian men to receive job-based
3pensions in retirement; and

AJR32,3,84 Whereas, diverting resources from Social Security to fund private accounts will
5threaten guaranteed survivor and disability benefits, thus harming working
6families — particularly African-Americans — as roughly one in 5 workers dies
7before retiring and nearly 3 in 10 become too disabled to work before reaching
8retirement age; and

AJR32,3,129 Whereas, privatizing Social Security will burden state and local governments,
10as cuts in guaranteed benefits will increase demands for public assistance at the very
11moment growth in the federal deficit, due to privatization, induces the federal
12government to shift greater responsibilities on to states and localities; and

AJR32,3,1713 Whereas, such drastic and damaging changes in Social Security that
14undermine its family income protections should not be rushed but, instead, should
15have the time needed to develop careful and thoughtful reforms that address Social
16Security's funding needs without slashing benefits or exploding the deficit; now,
17therefore, be it