1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             memorializing Congress to preserve Social Security. 
  1.3      
  1.4      WHEREAS, the Social Security Program has provided 
  1.5   retirement benefits to millions of Americans for 70 years; and 
  1.6      WHEREAS, this program has historically been sound and has 
  1.7   provided adequate incomes to keep Minnesota's seniors out of 
  1.8   poverty; and 
  1.9      WHEREAS, approximately 755,000 Minnesotans receive Social 
  1.10  Security benefits; and 
  1.11     WHEREAS, of that number, 95,000 are not retirees, but are 
  1.12  disabled, and 105,000 receive survivor benefits; and 
  1.13     WHEREAS, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has 
  1.14  stated that if no changes are made to the current system, Social 
  1.15  Security will be able to rely on its trust funds for nearly four 
  1.16  decades; and 
  1.17     WHEREAS, many times throughout the past 70 years, the 
  1.18  United States Congress has reviewed and reformed the Social 
  1.19  Security Act; and 
  1.20     WHEREAS, each of those reviews has maintained the Act's 
  1.21  basic structure as an insurance program and not an investment 
  1.22  program; and 
  1.23     WHEREAS, as with any long-term program or institution, 
  1.24  vigilance and prudent adjustments in both revenue and 
  2.1   expenditures are necessary to protect the Social Security 
  2.2   Program's fiscal viability; and 
  2.3      WHEREAS, any attempt to privatize Social Security now could 
  2.4   add trillions of dollars to the national debt and could thus 
  2.5   require a reduction in current and future benefits; NOW, 
  2.6   THEREFORE, 
  2.7      BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.8   that it urges the Congress of the United States to: 
  2.9      (1) retain Social Security as an insurance fund; 
  2.10     (2) make whatever conservative adjustments are necessary to 
  2.11  ensure the solvency of the trust funds well beyond 2040; and 
  2.12     (3) avoid privatization of the Social Security Program. 
  2.13     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  2.14  State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  2.15  memorial and transmit them to the President of the United 
  2.16  States, the President and the Secretary of the United States 
  2.17  Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United States House of 
  2.18  Representatives, the Committees on Ways and Means, Rules, and 
  2.19  Budget of the United States House of Representatives, the 
  2.20  Committee of Budget of the United States Senate, and Minnesota's 
  2.21  Senators and Representatives in Congress.