• Ensuring the long-term stability of the Social Security system while protecting the fundamental principles on which it was founded
  • Whereas, the Fraternal Order of Eagles is a non-profit, non-partisan membership organization with nearly one million individual members in more than 1,500 local Aeries across the United States;
  • Whereas, The Fraternal Order of Eagles served as a driving force in establishing the Social Security system in the 1930s;
  • Whereas, President Franklin Roosevelt wrote a letter to the Eagles dated October 25, 1935 in which he said:
    • “I am very glad to give you as the representative of the Fraternal Order of Eagles a pen with which I signed the Social Security Securities Act. . . . I have long observed with satisfaction the sponsorship by the F.O.E. (Fraternal Order of Eagles) of social justice legislation both in the states and in the nation. The records for more than a quarter of a century bear witness to the campaigns of education conducted, the literature distributed, and the addresses delivered by your socially-minded Order. These efforts have borne, and are bearing gratifying results. Our countrymen owe the Eagles good will for their unselfish services.
  • Whereas, the Eagles motto is “People Helping People,” and many of the Eagles’ charitable activities at the local and national level involve providing financial assistance to the elderly, disabled, and children;
  • Whereas, Social Security lifts about 13 million elderly beneficiaries out of poverty—about one-third of America’s elderly rely on Social Security for ninety percent of more of their income and two-thirds of elderly Americans rely on Social Security for more than half of their income;
  • Whereas, without Social Security, 55 percent of all disabled Americans and an additional one-million children would live in poverty;
  • Whereas, Social Security was founded on a set of core principles that have resulted in its long-term stability and success that include:
    • Near universal participation
    • Benefits are an earned right
    • Benefits are related to earnings
    • The system is contributory and self-financed
    • The system is redistributive
    • The system is not means tested
    • The system is wage indexed
    • The system is inflation protected, and
    • The system is compulsory;
  • Whereas, Social Security has successfully reduced poverty among the elderly, children, and the disabled and has provided hundreds of millions of Americans a solid base on which to build a financially stable retirement.”
  • Therefore, it is resolved that the Fraternal Order of Eagles:
    • Believe that the Social Security system is essential to the happiness, health, and financial independence of millions of families and individuals across the United States and must be preserved consistent with the fundamental principles under which it was established;
    • Encourage the President, leaders in the United States Congress, and others to take action to ensure the long-term financial stability of the Social Security system consistent with the fundamental principles under which it was established;
    • Support enactment of laws and policies that will ensure the long-term financial stability of the Social Security system while preserving the fundamental principles on which the Social Security system was established and has flourished; and
    • Will actively advocate for laws and policies that ensure the long-term stability of the Social Security system while protecting the fundamental principles on which it is founded.