Electric Bush: Touching the Third Rail of Politics

Republicans themselves are casting doubt upon President Bush’s Social Security plan, since two top Senators have said that Americans aren’t ready for the overhaul.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R- Tenn.) and Senator Charles Grassley (R- Iowa) have acknowledged that Americans seem opposed to the plan. Based on this lack of support, Senator Frist said that the Senate needs to wait a week, a month, or even a year before it debates and votes on Bush’s Social Security proposal. This statement is significant because a long delay could kill the legislation.

Republicans have said that they need to pass the bill in 2005 because it will be more difficult to do so in 2006, when many members of Congress are up for reelection. And in 2007, voters will be focused on the next presidential election, making President Bush what they call a "lame duck;" therefore, lawmakers say, the proposal needs to be introduced in the House and Senate this year.

Speeding up the timeline even more, Senator Grassley said that Congress has about three weeks to initiate the legislation if it wants to pass a bill by early fall, since it can take months for a bill to pass through the appropriate committees.

Further, Grassley has argued that Republicans should stop spotlighting the private retirement accounts and should instead focus on keeping the Social Security program out of debt, or, solvent.

Bush’s plan

But Bush is certainly highlighting the private accounts when campaigning for his Social Security overhaul, which would cut benefits in order to keep the program solvent.

Bush would like to allow workers to divert about two-thirds of their Social Security tax dollars away from the public trust and into their own accounts. He believes that the public system is failing and that private accounts will provide workers with more stability, more money, and a sense of ownership

The private retirement accounts are part of the President’s larger plan to create what he calls "an ownership society" where public social programs are cancelled or phased out and are replaced by individual, market-based ones.

In this "ownership society", the emphasis and the risk are on the individual instead of the group. Instead of pooling their resources for the common good, Bush wants citizens to seize control of their own retirement and health benefits in order to "have a stake in the future of this country."

But Republicans confess that this vision does little for the solvency of Social Security. Grassley has admitted that the Bush plan would not relieve Congress from cutting benefits and/or raising taxes in order to keep the program debt-free beyond 2042, when the trust fund will be exhausted and benefits will exceed revenues.

Even Republicans are saying that their constituents are more worried about the future of Medicaid and Medicare than about the problems that Social Security may face in 37 years.

Democrats have encouraged and feel encouraged by this response, since they are staunchly opposed to what they call the privatization of Social Security.

Public education

Democrats have been a united front against the President’s plan. They say they believe in maintaining a secure, public retirement system - a common contract and insurance policy among Americans that requires all to contribute and allows all to benefit.

Democrats have been applying political pressure by consistently holding press conferences to tell the public their side of the story, and so far, Americans seem to agree that the President’s plan isn’t the best fix for Social Security’s problems.

A new survey by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press shows that public support for Bush’s plan is falling, despite the administration’s nationwide campaign.

Campaigning a policy

The administration is planning a 60-day promotion for Bush’s policy, in which he will travel to 29 states in two months to drum up support.

And House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is encouraging more House Republicans to hold town hall-style meetings in their home states in order to better educate their constituents about the Bush plan.

But there’s no indication that greater awareness of the proposal will equal more support. In fact, the Pew poll shows that public understanding of the plan has increased as support for it has decreased. And many Republicans in Congress are wary about supporting the bill without their constituents’ approval.

The Social Security debate is an example of democracy in action. Both Democrats and Republicans are talking to their constituents about the issue and welcoming feedback. Now is a great time to contact your representatives and tell them what you think.

What do you think?

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Article Posted on: 3/8/2005