Presenter
Presented by Mr. Ricciardi
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WHEREAS, right now, Social Security's income protections include guaranteed lifelong benefits, cost-of-living adjustments to guard against inflation, increased benefits for families, greater income replacement for low-income workers, and disability and survivor benefits. These are the backbone of retirement security and family protection in the United States; and
WHEREAS, Social Security provides crucial, often indispensable income protection for the 47 million individuals—one of every six Americans—receiving benefits. Social Security is the nation's most successful and most important family income protection program, but has long-term funding needs; and
WHEREAS, some policymakers propose to address these needs by cutting guaranteed benefits and privatizing Social Security, meaning a third or more of workers' payroll tax contributions will be diverted out of the Social Security Trust Fund and into private investment accounts; and
WHEREAS, privatization will worsen social Security's funding needs by draining resources from the Trust Fund into private accounts, increasing the federal deficit by $2 trillion over the first decade alone and putting us in deeper hock to foreign creditors; and
WHEREAS, some officials and members of Congress have suggested the federal government will not pay back the money it has taken from the Social Security Trust Fund over the past 20 years, thereby denying working families the money they paid into Social Security and leading to further benefit cuts; and
WHEREAS, privatizing Social Security will cut guaranteed benefits by 30 percent for young workers, costing them $152,000 over their retirements, denying them benefits they have earned and imperiling their economic security; and
WHEREAS, cutting guaranteed benefits will hurt women and people of color, as they are more likely than white men to rely on Social Security for most of their retirement income. They earn less than white men and are thus less able to save for retirement, and are less likely than white men to receive job-based pensions in retirement; and
WHEREAS, Congress should not rush through drastic and damaging changes in Social Security that under-mine its family income protections but instead, should take the time needed to develop careful and thoughtful reforms that address Social Security's funding needs without slashing benefits or exploding the deficit.
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NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh requests that Congress should first commit to paying the Social Security Trust Fund back all of the money it borrowed; carefully study a variety of potential changes that will address Social Security's problems while ensuring the program will continue to meet its purpose of providing income protection and economic security for America's families; any changes adopted by Congress must strengthen Social Security's family income protections without slashing guaranteed benefits or exploding the deficit and finally, it should reject proposals to divert money out of Social Security to fund private accounts.