President Gets Boost on Social Security Reform
"Senior members of the House Ways and Means Committee, its chairman, and the entire House leadership, along with a dozen senators recently announced their intention to introduce legislation to stop the raid on Social Security surpluses and begin saving them in personal accounts for workers’ retirements. What a huge achievement for the GOP, and what an important victory for President Bush, who wants to further democratize our capitalistic economy..."

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Social Security Administration Scores Johnson Bill Modeled after Cato Plan
According to the official "scoring" by the Social Security Administration of Rep. Sam Johnson's reform legislation, which is based on the Cato Institute's own Social Security plan, the bill "would eliminate Social Security's long-range actuarial deficit" and restore the system to "sustainable solvency." Social Security Administration actuaries predict that over the program's 75-year actuarial window, "the overall effect of the proposal is to transform the projected $3.7 trillion long-range unfunded obligation for the program under current law into an expected positive Trust fund balance of $1.8 trillion at the end of the period." [more]

Representatives Introduce Social Security Reform Legislation
At a news conference Thursday, July 22, Reps. Sam Johnson (R-Texas), Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) introduced sweeping new Social Security reform legislation. Based on "The 6.2 Percent Solution: A Plan for Reforming Social Security," by Michael Tanner, director of Cato's Project on Social Security Choice, the legislation will allow workers to voluntarily invest their half of the Social Security payroll tax through individual accounts.

Read the text of HR 4895, the Individual Social Security Investment Program Act.
Watch the press conference.

Rep. Harold Ford Jr. Is Proposing New Social Security “Bridge” Benefit
Representative Harold Ford Jr. is proposing a new Social Security “bridge” benefit to supplement the wages of certain workers nearing retirement age. This idea could be integrated into a larger reform proposal, and it could help open new avenues for bipartisan discussion on an issue usually characterized by partisan gridlock.

Source: centrists.org

DeMint Proposes Bill To Reform Social Security
(Greenville-AP) March 16, 2004 - Republican US Senate candidate Jim DeMint says Social Security needs to be reformed and saved for current and future retirees.

Grassley Supports Personal Accounts
Senate Finance Chairman Grassley told a business group today that President Bush should make a plan to partly privatize Social Security a central issue of his re-election campaign. Grassley said this would pave the way for him to take up legislation next year setting up a system of private Social Security accounts. "My plan is to encourage the president to make personal accounts an issue in the campaign," Grassley said at a breakfast meeting of the National Association of Manufacturers. "Then there is a mandate from the electorate to do something. We can't move this process along just by [House Ways and Means] Chairman Thomas or Grassley wanting to do something," he said.

Source: Congress Daily, Tuesday March 2, 2004.

Mr. Greenspan, What About Personal Accounts for Social Security?
"Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan recently raised a ruckus when he called for future Social Security benefit cuts to slow government spending. He sent a strong signal to Washington politicians to come to grips with a reality that is settling in around the world. Political promises alone cannot guarantee retirement security. But there is something that might - adding personal retirement accounts to Social Security." - Senator Larry Craig

Source: Senator Larry Craig, (R-ID), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, March 3, 2004

Greenspan Speaks On the Social Security Crisis
"Most experts believe that the best baseline for planning purposes is to assume that the demographic shift associated with the retirement of the baby-boom generation will be permanent--that is, it will not reverse when that cohort passes away. Indeed, so long as longevity continues to increase--and assuming no significant changes in immigration or fertility rates--the proportion of elderly in the population will only rise. If this fundamental change in the age distribution materializes, we will eventually have no choice but to make significant structural adjustments in the major retirement programs."

Source: Testimony of Chairman Alan Greenspan "Economic Outlook and Current Fiscal Issues." Before the Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives February 25, 2004

Cato Scholar Testifies Before Special Committee on Aging
On January 27, Cato Senior Fellow Jagadeesh Gokhale testified before the Senate on the Future of Retirement in the United States. Gokhale is a recent addition to the Cato staff, working previously as an economist with the Cleveland Federal Reserve.

Kolbe, Stenholm Introduce Bipartisan Retirement Security Act
Reps. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) and Charlie Stenholm (D-TX) announced that they will introduce the Bipartisan Retirement Security Act (BRSA), a bill allowing individuals to privately invest a portion of their payroll tax through individual accounts. Read a summary of and get the latest information on the BRSA by clicking the bill's link on the Reform Proposals page or on the headline above.

Source: "Kolbe, Stenholm: Tough Choices on Social Security Cannot Wait," (Congressman Jim Kolbe Press Release)

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