National Grange Responds to the President's Social Security Plan In a letter sent to President George W. Bush to commend him on the policy goals he outlined in his 2005 State of the Union Address, the National Grange expressed its support for many of the basic principles the President laid out about the Social Security reform such as: --"We must ensure that lower-income Americans get the help they need to have dignity and peace of mind in their retirement." --"We must make sure any changes in the system are gradual, so that younger workers have years to prepare and plan for their future." --"We must make Social Security permanently sound." --"We must guarantee no change for those 55 years or older (born before 1950)." The letter also articulated the Grange's policy positions regarding the detailed direction of the reform, which were endorsed by grassroots delegates to the 138th Annual Convention of the National Grange: The National Grange supports allowing individuals to invest a percentage of their payroll taxes in an individual account. Individual account options should be chosen by the government to avoid confusion. No more than 2.2% of the value of the entire Social Security Trust Fund should be allowed to be invested in the stock market at any one time. The National Grange endorses the present computation formula that is used to derive Social Security benefits. We urge that all future individual minimum benefits must be guaranteed no matter whether or not beneficiaries elected to participate in individual Social Security investment accounts.  The National Grange requests that the public be provided with explicit and concise information well in advance concerning any major changes in the Social Security system.  The National Grange supports removing all Social Security "Earning Limits" for individuals.  The National Grange favors making all Social Security benefits free from federal personal income taxes. The National Grange supports reform to expedite the application for and processing of Social Security Disability benefits. We further urge that terminally ill persons be permitted to apply for Social Security Disability benefits upon diagnosis of their terminal illness and the application process be completed within four months of the initial application. Rural Americans are more likely to rely on Social Security for their retirement income than any other groups of Americans and the way of its reform is always one of the Grange's priority concerns. The Grange is looking forward to working with Bush administration to strengthen our Social Security system in ways to meet the needs of rural Americans.