Items in This Alert

Upcoming Events

In the News

New Research

Action Opportunities/Katrina Related

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Wiser Symposium, October 27, 2005

WISER will hold a Symposium entitled, “Women Alone: Managing the Longevity Risks of Retirement,” on Thursday, October 27, 2005, from 11:45am on the longevity risks for women, including outliving income, inflation, divorce and widowhood, poor health and a greater risk of institutionalization . The symposium will be followed by an awards reception at 5:45pm to pay tribute to the Honorable Judy Biggert, the Honorable Doris Matsui, Maudine Cooper, President and CEO of the Greater Washington Urban League, Anna Rappaport, Actuary, Mentor and Women's Advocate, and Marta Sotomayor, Aging Advocate and Community Activist. Please RSVP by October 24, 2005.

IN THE NEWS

Plans for Social Security Privatization on Backburner for Now

The push for Social Security privatization appears to be on the legislative backburner as relief for the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, budget reconciliation, and Supreme Court nominations take the lead. The idea of moving forward with a plan for privatization has met resistance among Republicans in the House and Senate and some doubt exists as to whether the issue will be brought back in 2006 given the lack of public support for any of the plans to privatize Social Security and the re-focus of legislators’ energies to upcoming elections. For further discussion, go “Republicans Seek Strategy to Abandon Social Security Overhaul” (September 15, 2005); SocSec Bulletin Archives (September 20, 2005); “Bush Says Social Security Overhaul Is Stalled” (October 5, 2005); and “No Social Security Bill To Come This Year: Lawmakers Say Changes in Program May Have to Wait Until After Election.” (September 26, 2005).

Social Security Administration Provides Critical Support to Victims of Katrina and Rita

The Social Security Administration (SSA) estimates that more than 650,000 beneficiaries reside in the counties of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi affected by Hurricane Katrina. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the SSA opened up regular and temporary offices, including in the Houston Astrodome, at expanded hours and with increased staff to issue Social Security checks to evacuees even if they no longer had a form of identification. In a time of extreme devastation, beneficiaries were able to rely on one important source of income. For more information, see “Social Security and Hurricane Katrina,” (September 9, 2005), “Social Security: A Better Model for Disaster Relief,” Alex Baker, The Century Foundation (September 14, 2005), and “Act by Sunday to Get Social Security Check,” (September 14, 2005).

 

NEW RESEARCH

Social Security is Primary Life Insurance for Most Children

An Economic Snapshot by the Economic Policy Institute finds that Social Security is the only source of life insurance for approximately 24.5 million children in the United States. Lower income children are more likely to rely on Social Security as their only source of life insurance, with 67 percent of children in families with incomes under $16,500, and 42 percent of children in families with incomes between $16,500 and $31,500 not holding any form of private life insurance. Only 28 percent of children in families with incomes between $31,000 and $51,000 have a private source of life insurance. Even for children with private life insurance, Social Security remains their primary source of life insurance because of the smaller value of private life insurance policies.

Center for Retirement Research Asks What Makes Older Women Work

A new brief, “What Makes Older Women Work?” by Alicia H. Munnell and Natalia Jivan of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College looks at older women and men’s labor force participation and the social and financial factors that affect their employment. The authors analyze data from the 1992 Health and Retirement Study of women and men in their 50s and 60s to understand older women’s labor force attachment. Among the study’s findings are that married women are more likely to continue working in old age if their Social Security benefits will exceed 50 percent of their husbands’ benefits. Married women who were once divorced or whose spouses are working are also more likely to work into their 50s and 60s. Married women with children under the age of 14, however, are less likely to work.

New Report by Congressional Budget Office Estimates Cost of McCrery Privatization Plan

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a new report that estimates the cost of House Resolution 3304, otherwise known as the McCrery Plan or the Growing Real Ownership for Workers (GROW) Act. Using the Social Security cash surplus, the McCrery plan for privatizing Social Security would create individual accounts for workers born after the year 1950 whose earnings are still covered by Social Security in the year 2005. According to analysis by the CBO, the cost would come to more than $1 trillion over a period of 10 years, between 2007 and 2021. The report also finds that the McCrery Plan could potentially lower retirement benefits for recipients whose individual accounts earned less than the Treasury rate of return. In addition, the McCrery Plan has little if any impact on revenue and does not prohibit Congress from accessing surpluses to help fund other government programs, two major arguments used by proponents of privatizing Social Security. (For a summary of the CBO report, go to http://www.cbpp.org/9-21-05socsec.pdf).

ACTION OPPORTUNITIES/KATRINA RELATED

The Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities

The Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities has recently been formed to attack proposed spending cuts in social services as a way to pay for rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, at the same time Congressional leaders are calling for further tax cuts. For more information about the campaign, see the Coalition on Human Needs website.