Republican Sees Shift in Soc. Sec. Debate


WASHINGTON - As President Bush (news - web sites) and his top deputies prepare a national blitz to sell changes to Social Security (news - web sites), an influential Senate Republican suggests focusing on the long-term solvency of the program rather than Bush's divisive proposal for personal accounts.





Bush's challenge was clear Wednesday. A new national poll found support for his Social Security plan falling, and Treasury Secretary John Snow said the president might be willing to jettison its centerpiece — private investment accounts paid for with Social Security payroll taxes. Alternative "add-on" accounts that rely on other sources of funding are also on the table for debate, Snow said.


Bush did get a repeat boost from Federal Reserve (news - web sites) Chairman Alan Greenspan (news - web sites), who prodded Congress to curtail the cost of government health and retirement benefits promised to baby boomers "sooner rather than later."


"We owe future retirees as much time as possible to adjust their plans for work, saving and retirement spending," Greenspan told the House Budget Committee on Wednesday.


Bush has called for congressional action on his proposal this year, as he travels the country trying to build support. He plans visits to New Jersey and Indiana on Friday.


Like other GOP leaders, Sen. Charles Grassley (news, bio, voting record) said he personally supports Bush's plan to divert payroll taxes into personal accounts. But Grassley, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee that would consider Social Security legislation, added that the controversy surrounding it is giving Democrats an excuse to ignore the program's serious financial problems.


"Maybe we ought to focus on the solvency and bring people to the table just over what do you do for the solvency for the next 75 years," Grassley, R-Iowa, said Wednesday.


Grassley said "personal accounts don't have a lot to do with solvency," a distinction that Bush glosses over but that his advisers concede.


"It really has given the Democrats an opportunity to focus on the personal accounts and avoid the responsibility that we all have about the solvency of it," Grassley said in an interview with Iowa reporters.


The program's problems could be fixed, he suggested, with a combination of benefit cuts and tax increases.


"It's mathematical what the problem is. It's mathematical what the solution is," he said.


His comments came on the same day Snow set off concern among conservatives by suggesting the administration might consider "add-on" accounts, which do not drain money from the traditional Social Security program. Some proposals would pay for the accounts with general tax revenue; others would require workers to contribute more of their pay.


"I think right now, the more ideas, the better. We like to see ideas," Snow told reporters. "My preference would be for the sort of proposal that we've put forward. On the other hand, we're prepared to engage people."


Snow also said the administration was launching a "60-day, 60-stop blitz" of the country to raise the profile of Bush's signature second-term domestic issue. He said he, the president, Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) and other administration officials will be in 29 states over the next two months.


"Americans are beginning to have a good understanding the system won't be there unless we act soon," he said.


Without changes, the Social Security trustees project that by 2042, the program won't have enough to pay promised benefits fully.


Congressional Democrats are virtually unanimous in their opposition to Bush's plans, arguing the president wants to inject market risk into a program that has lifted millions of seniors out of poverty. Some Republicans are skittish about tackling the issue, as well, fearing the political repercussions of making such fundamental changes in a program that benefits 52 million Americans.





Some Republicans also object to the policy.

"The government should not invest Social Security funds in the stock market," said Rep. Heather Wilson (news, bio, voting record), R-N.M., who faced a tough re-election fight last year. "Social Security has always been the safety net."

A new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press showed support for such accounts tumbling despite an intensive nationwide sales campaign by the president. The survey said the idea has 46 percent backing, down from 54 percent in December and 58 percent in September.

At the same time, public awareness of Bush's plans has increased, according to the survey, which called into question one of the White House's basic political assumptions.

Bush's envisions no change for current retirees or workers age 55 and older. Younger Americans could divert a portion of their payroll taxes into personal accounts, to be invested in a limited selection of mutual funds of varying risk. In exchange, the guaranteed government benefit would be cut for these workers when they retire.

All workers are likely to see other benefit cuts as well, to help bring the program into financial solvency.

Rarely, if ever, does Bush talk about benefit cuts, preferring to stress that he wants workers to have the chance to build a nest egg for retirement, and saying that without change the Social Security system will not be able to deliver promised benefits.

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