Bush v. Dems on Social Security

Bush to Announce Social Security Plans

By JENNIFER LOVEN

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush is ready to begin talking with Congress and the public about specific steps he supports to ensure the future of Social Security and will announce his ideas during a prime-time news conference Thursday.

Bush was also using the formal question-and-answer session with reporters - his first in the evening in over a year - to talk about skyrocketing gas prices. The White House asked television networks to broadcast the news conference, scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EDT in the East Room of the White House.

The focus of the president's planned 10- to 12-minute opening statement was to be Social Security, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.

...House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Bush's cross-country sales job on Social Security has been "a dismal failure."

"What I'm hoping" is that he will say "Uncle" about his privatization plan, she said. The White House shot back that Democrats are behaving as the do-nothing party with no ideas to offer.
_______________________

I don't understand why the Dems want to ignore the Social Security crisis. They used to consider it an issue of utmost importance.

Now, Harry Reid (D-NV) says, "The so-called Social Security crisis exists in only one place: the minds of Republicans."

He didn't always feel that way.

From The Hill:

RNC finds Bush-Reid tit-for-tat
By Alexander Bolton

The Republican National Committee (RNC) has resurrected a bill Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) sponsored when he was in the House more than 20 years ago that would have kept members of Congress out of the Social Security program.

RNC researchers contend that the 1983 bill belies Reid’s repeated claim that Social Security is the “most successful program in the history of the world.”

The Republican salvo is in response to Democrats’ frequent use of a statement President Bush made in 1978 during his unsuccessful campaign for Congress that Social Security will “go bust in 10 years unless there are some changes.”

...In a statement scheduled for release today, the RNC blasts Reid for the 1983 bill. He sponsored it a few months after Congress passed legislation that required all members and other federal employees to join Social Security. Previously, federal employees, including lawmakers, participated in a generous defined-benefit pension program that exempted them from Social Security taxes.

That action may seem embarrassing when contrasted with Reid’s recent ebullient praise of Social Security, praise he reiterated yesterday at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast with reporters.

“Senator Reid has asserted that Social Security is the ‘most successful program in the history of the world,’ yet he wrote legislation allowing himself and other members of Congress to stay out of Social Security,” said Brian Jones, the RNC’s communications director.
_______________________

Perhaps House minority leader Reid should clarify.

Is Social Security the "most successful program in the history of the world"?

Reid's position on personal accounts has shifted dramatically since he took on a leadership role for the Democrats.

Reid Then:

Reid: "[M]ost Of Us Have No Problem With Taking A Small Amount Of The Social Security Proceeds And Putting It Into The Private Sector." (Fox’s "Fox News Sunday," 2/14/99)

Fox’s Tony Snow: "Are You Opposed To Letting People Make The Investment Decisions? In Other Words, Having Some Component Where They Say, ‘I’ll Save The Money Rather Than Letting Uncle Sam Do It For Me.’" Reid: "I Think It’s Important That We Look And I’m Totally In Favor Of Do This And In Fact, There Are A Couple Of Programs Now That We’re Taking A Look At To See If It Will Work With Social Security." (Fox’s "News Sunday," 2/14/99)

Reid: "We’re Visiting Chile Because It Is Doing Interesting Things In Social Security And Other Parts Of Its Free Market System." (Tony Batt, "Reid To Embark On South America Trip," Las Vegas Review-Journal, 3/30/99)

Reid Now:

Reid: "We Won’t Hesitate To Tell America Why The President’s Plan On Social Security Is So Dangerous." (CBS’ "The Saturday Early Show," 2/12/05)

Reid: "I Am Especially Concerned By President Bush’s Proposal To Move Toward The Privatization Of Social Security." (Sen. Harry Reid, "Social Security And African Americans," Press Release, 2/4/05)
___________________________

EMBARRASSING