Posted on 04/28/2005 7:46:24 PM PDT by CHARLITE
With President George W. Bush's efforts to overhaul Social Security in deep trouble, the fate of the White House's top domestic priority now sits squarely on the shoulders of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles F. Grassley (R-Iowa), whose panel will try to draft a bill by summer. But Grassley tells BusinessWeek he'll abandon Bush's goal of creating private accounts if that's what it takes to pass legislation that restores financial stability to the retirement program (see BW Online, 04/28/05, "Grassley: 'It's All on the Table'").http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/apr2005/nf20050428_2827_db052.htm "I'm hoping the Senate will decide to include personal accounts," he says. "But if they don't, the solvency issue is very important, and we should do what we can do."
With Social Security, Grassley is taking on the toughest assignment of his 24-year Senate career. A plain-spoken, mainstream GOP conservative who, at age 71, is already collecting his monthly Social Security check, Grassley has displayed a knack for building bipartisan coalitions on big issues. Working with a handful of conservative Democrats, he shepherded both of Bush's tax cuts and the massive 2003 Medicare drug law through a deeply divided Senate.
FARMER IN THE WELL. But while he strongly prefers including personal accounts in a final bill, Grassley knows that as of now he's at least one vote short of getting such a bill out of his panel. No Democrats on his committee -- or in the entire Senate -- support Bush-style accounts funded by payroll taxes. They're joined in their opposition by a handful of Republicans, including at least one GOP member of the Finance Committee, Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine. "I know it looks like an impossible task,"
Grassley, who departs Washington to work his farm on many weekends, has been underestimated by Beltway insiders despite his big legislative victories. "
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
Give up. There's no chance.
Your recommended solution to any vexing problem?
Let the Democrats fix it. They created the problem.
Nope...NO PERSONAL ACCOUNTS - NO DEAL. Let the socialist security die, starve to death, fade out of memory, cease to exist.
Once more. Louder...
He has 4 years it is to early to call it dead. He should try until he leaves office.
There would be some justice in that.
Except that...you know how the Democrats would "fix" it, don't you?
By raising taxes. A lot...
They are going to raise taxes a lot anyway. And when they do, we are going to throw them out.
...or anything he brings to the table.
That's the size of it.
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