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House Leaders Pledge Fall Vote on Personal Accounts
for Social Security
Poll shows support for Bush proposal continues rapid
decline
June 29, 2005 The Associated Press reported today
that Republican leaders in the House are ready to push for a fall vote
on a scaled back version of President Bush's call for personal
retirement accounts. At the same time, USA Today is reported a new poll
showing the public opposition to the Social Security reform plan pushed
by President Bush has reached an all time high.
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Basics of GOP Proposal |
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Committee on Ways and Means
Subcommittee on Social Security
GROW Accounts
(Growing Real Ownership for Workers)
PRINCIPLES
1. Social Security taxes
should only be used for Social Security.
2. The Social Security
surplus should not be used to fund other government programs.
3. The surplus should not be
used to mask the true size of the national deficit.
WHAT THE BILL DOES
Protects the Social
Security surplus.
GROW Accounts will be
created for workers under the age of 55, unless they choose not
to participate.
The Social Security
surplus will be dedicated to GROW Accounts, where it will be
invested in no-risk, marketable Treasury securities real
assets that workers own.
Upon retirement, account
balances will be used to help pay the workers Social Security
benefit.
Account balances are
inheritable.
An independent Board will
manage and administer GROW Accounts. In January 2009, the Board
will submit a plan to Congress that would allow individuals to
diversify into other prudent investment options. Workers can
always choose to keep their assets invested in Treasury bonds.
The bill does not impose
investment risk on workers and does not harm the Social Security
Trust Funds. It does put us on the path to protecting the
integrity of the Social Security program by ensuring that Social
Security taxes are only used for Social Security. |
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Americans disapprove of the way President Bush is
handling Social Security by a ratio of more than 2-to-1, a new low for
the White House on its top domestic policy issue, according to the
latest USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll.
The poll, taken over the weekend, showed a steady
erosion in the president's handling of Social Security since early
February, when 43% approved. Now, 31% approve and 64% disapprove, the
first time disapproval has risen above 60%, reports USA Today.
Opposition to Bush is greatest among seniors,
women, and people with lesser incomes and levels of education. Democrats
disapprove by a ratio of more than 20-to-1, but Republicans back Bush's
performance on the issue by a 2-to-1 ratio, the newspaper says.
The bill the House is expected to push was
introduced last week and referred to as the GROW account, which the bill
sponsors say stands for Growing Real Ownership for Workers. The
uniqueness of this plan by four Republicans is that it has a new cut and
this new name for the private investment accounts. They would take the
Social Security surplus and dedicate it to GROW Accounts, where it will
be invested in no-risk, marketable Treasury securities. The proposal
was met with little enthusiasm by think-tanks or Democrats.
In the news conference last week, billed as the
announcement of a proposal for protecting the Social Security surplus,
Jim McCrery (R-LA), Chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee of Ways
and Means, took the lead in making the announcement. He was joined by
Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Clay Shaw (R-FL), Rep. Sam Johnson
(R-TX) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).
Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-CA) said it
was a proposal to ensure the Social Security surplus is spent on Social
Security.
This proposal will likely form the basis for one
of the components of a developing retirement security package, he said.
Thomas added that this is a common sense approach.
I support their efforts to find common ground on
which we can move forward, he added.
"For the older generation that needs convincing,
show that you share the values that underlie Social Security:
protection, fairness, peace of mind, patriotism and reward for hard
work," recommended a one-page instruction sheet that was distributed to
Republicans and obtained by The Associated Press.
Democrats and their allies said they would be ready
to challenge the assurances. Americans United to Protect Social
Security, which has helped lead the opposition to Bush's plans, said it
would renew its pressure on several dozen Republicans in both houses to
oppose the individual accounts.
Related Story:
Latest Social Security Proposal Creates GROW
Accounts
Called the McCrery-DeMint bill it would use surplus
to fund private accounts
June 23, 2005 Another Social Security reform
proposal was announced yesterday under the marketing-oriented name of
GROW Accounts, which the bill sponsors say stands for Growing Real
Ownership for Workers.
Read more...
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