Switch List July 2010 Number 22-10 - House Resolution H.Res. 1463

Being that 2010 is the 75th Anniversary of the Railroad Retirement Act, Congressman Tom Perriello, D-VA has introduced H.Res. 1463, a Resolution Supporting the goals and ideals of Railroad Retirement Day.

WHEREAS: The rail industry established the first formal industrial pension plan in North America on the
Grand Trunk Railway in 1874;

WHERAS:  By the late 1920's more than 80 percent of all railroad workers in the United States were
employed by companies with existing pension plans, but the benefits provided by these plans were
generally inadequate, liable to capricious termination, and of little assistance to disabled employees;

WHEREAS:  When the Great Depression drove the already unstable railroad pension system into a
state of crisis, the railroad industry was beset by retirees who needed immediate assistance
but the planned Social Security system would not cover work performed prior to 1937 and was not
scheduled to begin paying benefits until 1940;

WHEREAS:  Railroad workers sought a separate railroad retirement system which would continue and
broaden the existing railroad programs under a uniform national plan;

WHEREAS:  On August 29, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Railroad
Retirement Act, establishing the beginnings of a new social insurance system for the Nation's
rail industry that today protects working families against loss of income due to the retirement,
disability, or death of a wage earner and assists in meeting the medical expenses of the elderly
and long-term disabled;

WHEREAS:  The Railroad Retirement Act was amended numerous times between 1937 and 2002,
including a major restructuring in 1974 and most recently by enactment of the Railroad Retirement
and Survivors Improvement Act of 2001, the most significant railroad retirement legislation in almost
20 years;

WHEREAS:  The benefit and financing provisions of the legislation, like those provisions of the legislation
most previous railroad retirement legislation, were based on joint recommendations negotiated by a
coalition of rail freight carriers and rail labor organizations;

WHEREAS:  The Act liberalized early retirement benefits for 30-year employees and their spouses,
eliminated a cap on monthly retirement and disability benefits, lowered the minimum service from
10 years to 5 years of service if performed after 1995, and provided increased benefits for some
widows and widowers;

WHEREAS:  The Act reduced tier II tax rates on rail employees in calendar years 2002 and 2003 and
and beginning with 2004 provided automatic adjustments in the tier II tax rates for both employers
and employees, and also repealed the supplemental annuity work-hour tax rate;

WHEREAS:  As a result of this provision, the tier II tax rate on employers has decreased from 16.1
percent in 2001 to 12.1 percent in 2010 and the tax rate on employees has decreased from 4.9
percent in 2001 to 3.9 percent in 2010;

WHEREAS:  The law also created the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust, which manages
and invests railroad retirement funds in nongovernmental assets, as well as in government
securities;

WHEREAS:  Since creation of the Trust, its assets have grown from $20,700,000,000 in 2002 to
$25, 200,000,000 as of March 31, 2010, and that amount does not include an additional
$8,900,000,000 transferred by the trust to the Treasury to pay railroad retirement benefits
during this period;

WHEREAS:  During the past 75 years, railroad retirement benefits have been paid by the Railroad
Board to more than 2,000,000 retired workers, 1,100,000 spouses, and 2,400,000 survivors.

Whereas:  The first retirement annuities awarded under the 1935 Railroad Retirement Act averaged
$60 a month with no monthly benefits for spouses or survivors;

WHEREAS:  Today employee annuity awards average about $2,700 a month, annuities for spouse
average over $900 a month, and annuities to aged and disabled widows and widowers just over
$1,700 a month;

WHEREAS:  In 2010, nearly 600,000 beneficiaries will receive retirement and survivor benefits and
about 42,000 persons will receive unemployment and sickness benefits;

WHEREAS:  Today more than 200,000 people work in railroad employment and pay railroad retirement
taxes;

WHEREAS:  The rail industry and it's workers continue to be an integral part of our nation's
transportation system and vital to our economy; and

WHEREAS:  The Railroad Retirement Board has designated August 29, 2010, as "Railroad
Retirement Day" to celebrate the success and importance of the railroad retirement
system to America's working families;

Now Therefore be it Resolved: That the House of Representatives

(1) Supports the goals and ideals of Railroad Retirement Day as designated by the
Railroad Retirement Board;

(2)  Recognizes the important contributions that the rail industry, rail workers, and
retirees make to the national transportation system; and

(3)  Urges the people of the United States to recognize such a day as an opportunity
to celebrate the importance of the railroad retirement system to America's working
families.


Note:  Resolution introduced on June 22, 2010, Passed the Transportation & Infrastructure
Committee on a voice vote on July 15, 2010 and placed on the House Calendar #219

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