WHEREAS:

Record high federal deficits over the last seven years have prompted some members of Congress and the Reagan Administration to consider reducing or eliminating the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA); and

WHEREAS:

Social Security's Old Age and Survivors Insurance/Disability Insurance Trust Funds currently have substantial surpluses that are scheduled to exceed a trillion dollars by the year 2000; and

WHEREAS:

Social Security is totally self-financed by the employer-employee payroll tax and requires no funds from the general Treasury; and

WHEREAS:

A system that is in surplus and is self-financed cannot possibly contribute to the federal debt; and

WHEREAS:

Social Security funds can be used only to pay benefits and not for any other purpose or program of the federal government; and

WHEREAS:

The proceeds from cuts in Social Security benefits could not be added to the general operating budget of the federal government, but rather would revert by law to the Trust Funds, creating even larger Social Security surpluses; and

WHEREAS:

Social Security surpluses are currently being used to offset the deficit within the unified federal budget, making the deficit appear smaller than it actually is-though only on paper; and

WHEREAS:

Social Security is a universal program that protects nearly all American workers and their families against loss of income due to disability, retirement or death of a breadwinner; and

WHEREAS:

Cuts in the Social Security COLA permanently reduce benefits for all current and prospective beneficiaries by shrinking the base benefit on which all future increases will be calculated; and

WHEREAS:

Sixty-two percent of retiree-beneficiaries depend on Social Security for half or more of their income, while 25% of beneficiaries get more than 90% of their income from Social Security; and

WHEREAS:

The average Social Security benefit of about $6,000 a year is only a few hundred dollars above the official poverty law; and

WHEREAS:

Forty-two percent of the elderly are classified as poor or near-poor, which means that elimination of the Social Security COLA for even a single year would throw hundreds of thousands of elderly into poverty, while placing the already-poor in even more serious jeopardy.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That this 28th AFSCME International Convention take a firm stand against any cuts in Social Security benefits, including reduction, delay or elimination of the annual cost-of-living adjustment; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME members and affiliates be urged to hold accountable any member of Congress or the Administration who promotes cuts in Social Security.

SUBMITTED BY:

Lee N. McNatt, President
Marilyn Clouse, Secretary
AFSCME Local 782, Council 28
Olympia, Washington