Arlen Specter: “this resolution provides that Social Security cost-of-living adjustments shall be maintained. The resolution (S. Res.…”

“this resolution provides that Social Security cost-of-living adjustments shall be maintained. The resolution (S. Res. 155) was agreed to. The preamble was agreed to. The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows: S. Res. 155 (a) Findings.--The Senate finds that: (1) Social Security provides a relatively modest insurance benefit for seniors--many of whom rely on Social Security for part or all of their monthly income. Without Social Security, forty-eight percent of beneficiaries would be in poverty today. (2) In order to protect benefit levels against inflation, Social Security beneficiaries receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) based on Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). (3) The January 2003 COLA provided only a 1.4 percent increase in Social Security benefits, increasing the average monthly benefit for all retired workers by only $13 (from $882 to 895). (4) Annual growth in Medicare premiums and out-of-pocket health care costs for retired individuals on fixed incomes far exceeded the small COLA increases provided to Social Security beneficiaries. (5) Reducing COLAs will disproportionately harm low-income Social Security beneficiaries and push millions of seniors into poverty. (b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that Social Security cost-of-living adjustments should not be reduced.”