Where's A High School Sophomore When You Need One?

November 2, 1999

On Sunday's Meet the Press, Democratic Senator Bob Kerry of Nebraska challenged Democratic presidential contenders Al Gore and Bill Bradley to outline real solutions to the Social Security problem. Kerrey took both Gore and Bradley to task for their lack of courage on Social Security reform. Indiana Democratic Senator Evan Bayh stated that the lack of concrete proposals to reform Social Security was attributable to the program's complexity. Kerrey responded:

"Social Security is not complex. I mean, Social Security is a program that a sophomore in high school with an IQ of 100 could figure out in an hour. This is not a complicated problem. There's only 35 members of Congress--535 people elected in the Congress, the vice president and the president -- and there's only 35 people on a specific piece of legislation that would enable Social Security to pay all beneficiaries, 270 million of them, those who are eligible today and those who would be eligible in the future. I mean, the problem is, there's a presumption that the greatest generation in the history of this country, people over the age of 65, can't take the truth and will get angry. Eighty percent of them show up and vote and that they'll get angry and throw you out of office or won't vote for you. I believe it's an incorrect presumption and it's an insulting presumption." When asked by host Tim Russert whether "either candidate has been intellectually honest about what is necessary to restructure Social Security and Medicare?" Kerrey replied with a simple "No."

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