Senate Concurrent Resolution 7 - Introduced
PAG LIN
1 1 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO.
1 2 BY GRONSTAL
1 3 A Concurrent Resolution urging the President of the
1 4 United States and the United States Congress to
1 5 maintain the stability of the federal social security
1 6 system and to forego any effort to privatize any
1 7 aspect of the system.
1 8 WHEREAS, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
1 9 signed legislation creating the federal social
1 10 security system in 1935, one=half of this country's
1 11 senior citizens were living in poverty; and
1 12 WHEREAS, the United States has managed to reduce
1 13 that figure to less than 10 percent; and
1 14 WHEREAS, the President of the United States is
1 15 proposing major changes to the federal social security
1 16 system; and
1 17 WHEREAS, the federal social security system is an
1 18 insurance program that provides a foundation of
1 19 economic security to all who work and contribute to
1 20 society; and
1 21 WHEREAS, the solid foundation of the federal social
1 22 security system and riskier investments in current
1 23 private accounts designated to yield income in
1 24 retirement form a multilayered retirement plan that
1 25 strikes a sensible balance between risk and return;
1 26 and
1 27 WHEREAS, to ensure the long=term viability of the
1 28 social security system, the President of the United
1 29 States and the United States Congress can and should
1 30 make some adjustments to improve its operation while
2 1 preserving its essential character as the foundation
2 2 of America's retirement system; and
2 3 WHEREAS, every year the social security system
2 4 collects considerably more money in social security
2 5 taxes than it pays in benefits, with a surplus of $151
2 6 billion as of last year; and
2 7 WHEREAS, the social security system trustees
2 8 predict that if our economy remains healthy, social
2 9 security benefits will be fully financed for all
2 10 living generations; and
2 11 WHEREAS, despite the fact that Congress is
2 12 diverting social security funds for nonsocial security
2 13 uses, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office
2 14 projects that the program still has enough resources
2 15 to remain solvent until the year 2052; and
2 16 WHEREAS, minor adjustments can keep the system
2 17 running smoothly for a long time to come; and
2 18 WHEREAS, a retirement system without a stable
2 19 foundation cannot reasonably be described as secure;
2 20 and
2 21 WHEREAS, by exercising the best of these options,
2 22 the United States will not only meet its moral
2 23 commitment to protect seniors from poverty, it will
2 24 make it safe for people to keep investing in existing
2 25 forms of private accounts, secure in the knowledge
2 26 that social security will be there no matter what; NOW
2 27 THEREFORE,
2 28 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE, THE HOUSE OF
2 29 REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING, That the General Assembly
2 30 of the State of Iowa urges the President of the United
3 1 States and the United States Congress to maintain the
3 2 stability of the federal social security system and to
3 3 forego any effort to privatize any aspect of the
3 4 federal social security system; and
3 5 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Secretary of the
3 6 Senate forward copies of this Resolution to the
3 7 President of the United States, the Speaker of the
3 8 United States House of Representatives, the President
3 9 of the United States Senate, the Majority and Minority
3 10 Leaders of the United States Senate and the United
3 11 States House of Representatives, and to each member of
3 12 Iowa's congressional delegation.
3 13 LSB 2652XS 81
3 14 jr:rj/pj/5.1
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