Fight Over Social Security Nominees Brewing
August 30, 2001
In what may be a precursor of the fight over Social Security
privatization, opponents of individual accounts may try to block President
Bush's nominees to head the Social Security Administration.
Bush has nominated Jo Anne B. Barnhart, a former aide to former
Senate Finance Committee Chairman William V. Roth Jr. (R-DE) to be
commissioner of Social Security, and James B. Lockhart III, who headed
the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. under former President George Bush,
and is now chief administrative and financial officer for Connecticut-based
Net Risk, a financial consulting firm, as deputy commissioner.
Witold Skwierczynski, a spokesman for the American Federation of
Government Employees (AFGE), told reporters that labor unions want the
Senate Finance Committee hearings on the nominations--not yet
scheduled-- to provide a full airing of views on Bush's proposal for creating
private individual accounts as part of Social Security.
"We do not oppose the nominations at this point. But we think tough
questions should be asked,'' said Sckwierczynski, who is president of the
National Council of SSA Field Operation Locals, which represents about
half of the agency's 65,000 employees.
In addition, he said his union plans to scour the views of Barnhart
and Lockhart in anticipation of possible efforts by the Bush administration
to replace some employees of the agency with outside contractors. "We are
very concerned there will be efforts to reduce federal employees working in
Social Security field offices. There could be a fight on this issue,"
Schwierzieski said.
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