SR4,1,106 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

SR4,1,1311 Whereas, Social Security provides crucial, often indispensable income
12protection for the 47 million individuals — one of every 6 Americans — receiving
13benefits; and

SR4,2,3

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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

SR4,2,74 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

SR4,2,118 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

SR4,2,1612 Whereas, some officials and members of Congress have suggested the federal
13government will not pay back the money it has taken from the Social Security Trust
14Fund over the past 20 years and used for other things, thereby denying working
15families the money they paid into Social Security and leading to further benefit cuts;
16and

SR4,2,2017 Whereas, privatizing Social Security will cut guaranteed benefits by 30 percent
18for young workers, even for those who do not participate in private accounts, costing
19them $152,000 over their retirements, denying them benefits they have earned, and
20imperiling their economic security; and

SR4,2,2421 Whereas, cutting guaranteed benefits will hurt the elderly because Social
22Security is the only secure source of retirement income for most Americans,
23providing at least one-half the income of nearly two-thirds of older American
24households and lifting more than 11 million seniors out of poverty; and

SR4,3,5

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1Whereas, cutting guaranteed benefits will hurt women and people of color, as
2they are more likely than Caucasian men to rely on Social Security for most of their
3retirement income, they earn less than Caucasian men and are thus less able to save
4for retirement, and they are less likely than Caucasian men to receive job-based
5pensions in retirement; and

SR4,3,106 Whereas, diverting resources from Social Security to fund private accounts will
7threaten guaranteed survivor and disability benefits, thus harming working
8families — particularly African-Americans — as roughly one in 5 workers dies
9before retiring and nearly 3 in 10 become too disabled to work before reaching
10retirement age; and

SR4,3,1411 Whereas, privatizing Social Security will burden state and local governments,
12as cuts in guaranteed benefits will increase demands for public assistance at the very
13moment growth in the federal deficit, due to privatization, induces the federal
14government to shift greater responsibilities on to states and localities; and

SR4,3,1915 Whereas, Congress should not rush through drastic and damaging changes in
16Social Security that undermine its family income protections but, instead, should
17take the time needed to develop careful and thoughtful reforms that address Social
18Security's funding needs without slashing benefits or exploding the deficit; now,
19therefore, be it