BILL REQ. #: S-1176.1
State of Washington | 59th Legislature | 2005 Regular Session |
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.