Bush, Cheney Return to Social Security
September 28, 2000
After a period of quiet on the campaign trail, the Republican presidential
ticket of Texas Gov. George W. Bush and former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney
has come back to promote their plan to reform Social Security by allowing workers
to invest a portion of their payroll taxes in personal retirement accounts.
Bush spoke on Social Security twice Thursday, first on the Regis Philbin television
program where guest co-host Susan Hawk of "Survivor" showed her support for
personal accounts. "Do you have a good plan on the Social Security?" Hawk asked,
saying she liked Bush's idea of allowing workers to invest some of their Social
Security in the stock market.
"That's going to be a tough transition," Hawk said, "but I'm willing to try
it."
At a rally in Cleveland, Ohio Bush again spoke at length about Social Security,
and his campaign distributed
new material supporting his reform plan.
Vice Presidential nominee Cheney also touted personal accounts, saying that,
"Under our plan you can build wealth, even if you don't have a dollar to spare."
This stands in contrast to Vice President Gore's proposal for supplemental personal
accounts, which would demand that low-income workers invest money on top of
their Social Security taxes in order to qualify for government matching funds.
Cheney criticized the current return 2 percent annual on Social Security investments,
just a third of what a "relatively sound" investment would gain. He also emphasized
that while personal account investments should be basic and safe, government
should not do the investing: You would want government probably to certify the
options and alternatives that are there for investment, but in the end you want
those to be privately managed accounts," Cheney said.
Vice President Gore's campaign counterattacked, saying "The fact is Gov. Bush's
plan would leave the Social Security Commission only two choices: insolvency
in 2023 or a 50 percent cut in guaranteed benefits."
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