Full Text of SJR0013 94th General Assembly
SJ0013eng 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 13 | 2 |
| (As Amended by Senate Amendment No. 1)
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| WHEREAS, Social Security's income protections - | 4 |
| guaranteed, lifelong benefits, cost-of-living adjustments to | 5 |
| guard against inflation, increased benefits for families, | 6 |
| greater income replacement for low-income workers, and | 7 |
| disability and survivor benefits - are the backbone of | 8 |
| retirement security and family protection in the United States; | 9 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, Social Security provides crucial, often | 11 |
| indispensable, income protection for the 47 million | 12 |
| individuals - one of every six Americans - receiving benefits; | 13 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, Social Security is the nation's most successful | 15 |
| and most important family income protection program, but it has | 16 |
| long-term funding needs we should address; and
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| WHEREAS, Some policymakers propose to address these needs | 18 |
| by cutting guaranteed benefits and privatizing Social | 19 |
| Security; that is, diverting a third or more of workers' | 20 |
| payroll tax contributions out of the Social Security Trust Fund | 21 |
| and into private investment accounts; and
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| WHEREAS, Privatization will worsen Social Security's | 23 |
| funding needs by draining resources from the Trust Fund into | 24 |
| private accounts, increasing the federal deficit by $2 trillion | 25 |
| over the first decade alone and more in the future, and putting | 26 |
| us in deeper hock to foreign creditors; and
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| WHEREAS, Some officials and members of Congress have | 28 |
| suggested the federal government will not pay back the money it | 29 |
| has taken from the Social Security Trust Fund over the past 20 | 30 |
| years and used for other things, thereby denying working |
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| families the money they paid into Social Security and leading | 2 |
| to further benefit cuts; and
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| WHEREAS, Privatizing Social Security will cut guaranteed | 4 |
| benefits by 30 percent for young workers, even for those who do | 5 |
| not participate in private accounts, costing them $152,000 over | 6 |
| their retirements, denying them benefits they have earned and | 7 |
| imperiling their economic security; and
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| WHEREAS, Cutting guaranteed benefits will hurt the elderly | 9 |
| because Social Security is the only secure source of retirement | 10 |
| income for most Americans, providing at least half the income | 11 |
| of nearly two-thirds of older American households and lifting | 12 |
| more than 11 million seniors out of poverty; and
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| WHEREAS, Cutting guaranteed benefits will hurt women and | 14 |
| people of color, as they are more likely than white men to rely | 15 |
| on Social Security for most of their retirement income, they | 16 |
| earn less than white men and are thus less able to save for | 17 |
| retirement, and they are less likely than white men to receive | 18 |
| job-based pensions in retirement; and
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| WHEREAS, Diverting resources from Social Security to fund | 20 |
| private accounts will threaten guaranteed survivor and | 21 |
| disability benefits, thus harming working families - | 22 |
| particularly African-Americans - as roughly one in five workers | 23 |
| dies before retiring and nearly three in 10 become too disabled | 24 |
| to work before reaching retirement age; and
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| WHEREAS, Privatizing Social Security will burden state and | 26 |
| local governments, as cuts in guaranteed benefits will increase | 27 |
| demands for public assistance at the very moment growth in the | 28 |
| federal deficit due to privatization induces the federal | 29 |
| government to shift greater responsibilities onto states and | 30 |
| localities; and
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| WHEREAS, In addition to privatization, federal | 2 |
| policymakers are now considering "Progressive Indexing" as a | 3 |
| reform to address the future solvency of Social Security by | 4 |
| slowing the growth of future Social Security benefits for | 5 |
| middle-wage and high-wage workers; and | 6 |
| WHEREAS, Congress should not rush through drastic and | 7 |
| damaging changes in Social Security that undermine its family | 8 |
| income protections but, instead, should take the time needed to | 9 |
| develop careful and thoughtful reforms that address Social | 10 |
| Security's funding needs without slashing benefits or | 11 |
| exploding the deficit; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL | 13 |
| ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES | 14 |
| CONCURRING HEREIN, that Congress should first commit to paying | 15 |
| back to the Social Security Trust Fund all of the money it | 16 |
| borrowed and spent on other things; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That Congress should carefully study a variety of | 18 |
| potential changes that will address Social Security's problems | 19 |
| while ensuring the program will continue to meet its purpose of | 20 |
| providing income protection and economic security for | 21 |
| America's families; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That any changes adopted by Congress must | 23 |
| strengthen Social Security's family income protections without | 24 |
| slashing guaranteed benefits or exploding the deficit; and be | 25 |
| it further
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| RESOLVED, That Congress should reject proposals to divert | 27 |
| money out of Social Security to fund private accounts; and be | 28 |
| it further
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| RESOLVED, That the Commission on Government Forecasting | 30 |
| and Accountability conduct an actuarial study of "Progressive | 31 |
| Indexing" and the effect this proposal could have on future |
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| State pension payments to middle-wage and high-wage employees | 2 |
| who could see the growth of their Social Security benefits | 3 |
| reduced by "Progressive Indexing" and report the results of its | 4 |
| study to the General Assembly by January 1, 2006; and be it | 5 |
| further | 6 |
| RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be sent to the | 7 |
| President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, the Speaker of the | 8 |
| U.S. House of Representatives, each member of the Illinois | 9 |
| congressional delegation, and the Commission on Government | 10 |
| Forecasting and Accountability.
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