On 71st Anniversary of Social Security, Bush Privatization Plan Is Back
On 71st Anniversary of Social Security, Bush/Santorum/Talent/Burns/McCrery/Shaw/DeMint/Thune/Pryce/Boehner/Paulson/Bolton Privatization Plan is Back
August 1st - Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson at Columbia University
"The biggest economic issue facing our country is the growth in spending on the major entitlement programs: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security...If left unchecked these programs would significantly impair our economic flexibility and erode our competitiveness.
"Demographics don't lie and demographics aren't partisan. Social Security was created in 1935. Today, people are living longer than they did in 1935, yet Social Security's basic structure has barely changed. Just 3.3 workers are paying into the system to support each beneficiary, while 16 workers did so in 1950. The President put forward a plan last year to strengthen and modernize Social Security. The longer we wait to fix this problem the more limited will be the options available to us, the greater the cost and the more severe the economic impact on our nation.
"I've only been Treasury Secretary for a short time. In my first days in office, many in Washington have told me that reform of entitlement programs is just too difficult to achieve. They tell me that politicians will demagogue this issue and use it as a political weapon...
"So the President has instructed me to work with Congress on a bipartisan basis to find workable solutions - solutions that will help to keep our economy competitive in the years, and decades to come - and solutions that should not place an unfair burden on future generations. These solutions should be built on what we can agree on, not what divides us. "
July 31st - Rep. John A Boehner in an interview with The Washington Times
Though no issue is more important for Republicans to "get right" than immigration reform, he said, the sky-rocketing costs of Social Security and other federal entitlement costs are a "tsunami that's racing right at us."
"If I'm around in a leadership role come January, we're going to get serious about it," Mr. Boehner said.
June 27th - President Bush at the JW Marriott Hotel in Washington, DC:
"As you might recall, I addressed that issue last year, focusing on Social Security reform. I'm not through talking about the issue. I spent some time today in the Oval Office with the United States senators, and they're not through talking about the issue either. It's important for this country. I know it's hard politically to address these issues. Sometimes it just seems easier for people to say, we'll deal with it later on. Now is the time for the Congress and the President to work together to reform Medicare and reform Social Security so we can leave behind a solvent balance sheet for our next generation of Americans.
"If we can't get it done this year, I'm going to try next year. And if we can't get it done next year, I'm going to try the year after that, because it is the right thing to do. It's just so easy to say, let somebody else deal with it. Now is the time to solve the problems of Medicare and Social Security, and I want your help. I need the Manhattan Institute to continue to agitate for change and reform. You've got a big voice. You got creative thinkers, and if you don't mind, I'd like to put this on your agenda, and let you know the White House and members of the Senate and the House are anxious to deal with this issue and get it done once and for all."
June 16th - White House chief-of-staff Josh Bolten in an interview with the WSJ:
Looking ahead to next year, he is trying to lay the groundwork for a renewed effort to reform Social Security and Medicare, the federal health-care program for seniors.
He suggests Mr. Bush and his aides may have learned from their failed attempt to push through Social Security reform in 2005. "There's a keen appreciation around here that something as big as entitlement reform will be near-impossible to achieve on a strictly Republican-vote basis, so we'll need bipartisan cooperation," he said.
June 6th - Rep. Jim McCrery (Louisiana-04) at a US Chamber of Commerce luncheon:
McCrery, R-Shreveport, said the Republican-controlled Congress and the White House have little political capital to tackle big issues such as health care or tax reform.
But Social Security, he said, "is easy to solve."
"It's certainly an issue that demands attention, and I'm hopeful that next year will provide us an opportunity to kind of go back to square one, start all over and come up with a Social Security plan that we can all embrace".
"We tried that last year -- didn't get very far," McCrery said. "That's an issue that simply is going to have to wait until after the elections." ...
-30-