White House Weighing Action Next Year

November 18, 2002

The Washington Post reports that the Bush administration is internally debating whether to move ahead with Social Security reform next year, in light of the November 5 election results that gave Republicans unexpected control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Reporter Amy Goldstein writes:

According to sources in the administration, Congress and conservative interest groups, White House officials have concluded from voters' choices that the changes -- which would for the first time tie a portion of the nation's retirement system to stock market investments -- can be a winning issue. Bush aides have compiled a PowerPoint presentation for advocates and lawmakers showing that several GOP candidates who emphasized Social Security in their campaigns did "best of all," as an administration official put it.

However, Goldstein points out, "the president's advisers are still discussing whether he should prod lawmakers for a bill quickly or spend the next year leading a 'national conversation' to try to engender support."

While White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card suggested on NBC's "Meet the Press" that reform might have to wait after the 2004 election, Goldstein reports that "White House aides called their sympathizers in advocacy groups and on Capitol Hill, saying that Card was not implying that Bush had made a decision."

Republicans have traditionally been reticent to take on the "third rail" of American politics. But, Goldstein reports, "At least a few Republicans who won elections last week said they are prepared to push the issue. 'Empirically, it appears to have worked for everyone who was willing to take on this issue head-on,' said Rep. John E. Sununu (R-N.H.), who won a difficult Senate race. 'Voters recognize this is a priority.'"

Other leading congressional Republicans also favor action sooner rather than later. The Tucson Citizen reports that Arizona Sen. John Kyl, who heads the Senate Social Security subcommittee, argues that

"Social Security has to change. It will change. It's just a question of when finally are we going to drum up the courage to do something. There are those who say, 'Gee, if we raise this issue, the other side will demagogue it and therefore we'll lose.' My question to them is, why are you involved in public life? If you don't care enough to argue your point of view and try to win the point, then go do something else. Let's articulate our positions clearly, develop the evidence that supports them and have the courage of our conviction to go out and fight for them. If we lose, at least we know we tried ... but you never can prevail if you never try. Democrats suffered from the same deficiency in this last election."

As reported elsewhere this week, Kyl's Arizona colleague in the House, Rep. Jim Kolbe, has reintroduced his own bipartisan reform plan, co-sponsored with Texas Democratic Rep. Charlie Stenholm.

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