Read first time 02/03/2005.   Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, In August 1935, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law the Social Security program, he asserted that the fundamental purpose of the initiative was to "give some measure of protection to the average citizen and his family against the loss of a job and against a poverty ridden old age;" and
     WHEREAS, Today, seventy years later, about 48 million Americans -both retired workers and those who are disabled - receive modest checks from Social Security; and
     WHEREAS, This modest support continues to be a bulwark against the indignities of poverty, accounting for more than half the income of two-thirds of those who receive benefits; and
     WHEREAS, Social Security is now widely recognized by the public as one of the most successful programs in our nation's history, guaranteeing, as it does, to all Americans, today and tomorrow, a basic standard of living; and
     WHEREAS, It is being argued that Social Security should be privatized by diverting payroll taxes from current beneficiaries to private investment accounts; and
     WHEREAS, Such reforms are likely to require the federal government to borrow nearly $2 trillion, or $100 billion to $150 billion per year for ten years, to finance the transfer to create new private accounts; and
     WHEREAS, In addition to adding to the already significant federal debt, this proposal would partially replace guaranteed benefits with ones that expose millions of retired Americans to the ups and downs of the stock market;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully request that the Congress and the Administration reject the current effort to privatize Social Security and instead engage in an open dialogue with the American public to arrive at a sensible solution that preserves the original intent of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, making Social Security an insurance fail-safe for the aged and disabled and a complement to every individual's ability to invest in the private market on their own.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.