This page contains bills sponsored by presidential contenders. Bill sponsorships indicate the topics that legislators are most interested in, and spend the most time on.

02-H4780 on May 21, 2002

1. President Bush promised to partially privatize Social Security, and appointed a commission to develop a plan on his behalf.
2. The commission developed three alternative plans that would partially privatize Social Security.
3. The plans divert substantial monies from the Social Security Trust Funds to pay for the private accounts, which threatens benefits for current beneficiaries by significantly weakening the financial condition of the Trust Funds.
4. The plans' cuts in disability and survivor benefits directly contradict the President's promise that disability and survivor benefits would be preserved under privatization.
5. Furthermore, these reductions in guaranteed benefits apply to all workers, regardless of whether they chose to have an individual account or not.
6. Substituting private accounts for guaranteed Social Security benefits increases financial risk for retirees, disabled workers and their families.
7. Moreover, other proposals to privatize Social Security, such as the 'Social Security Guarantee Plus' plan or the 'Social Security Ownership and Guarantee' plan, establish private accounts that directly or indirectly reduce Social Security benefits.

• The Congress hereby commits to preserve the guaranteed, lifelong, inflation-protected benefits provided under the Social Security Act to retirees, disabled workers and their families, and the survivors of deceased workers; and
• Congress therefore rejects the President's plans to partially privatize Social Security, and other proposals to privatize Social Security by establishing private accounts that would undermine traditional Social Security benefits.

Participating counts on VoteMatch question 6.
• Topic: Social Security
• Headline: Reject proposals for private saving accounts (Score: -2)
• Headline 2: Reject proposals for private saving accounts (Score: -2)
• Key for participation codes:
• Sponsorships: p=sponsored; o=co-sponsored; s=signed
• Memberships: c=chair; m=member; e=endorsed; f=profiled; s=scored
• Resolutions: i=introduced; w=wrote; a=adopted
• Cases: w=wrote; j=joined; d=dissented; c=concurred