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Thursday, March 31, 2005
Grassley: SS Compromise May Be Necessary
Yesterday President Bush travelled to Iowa to promote his plan to reform social security. Iowa is the 20th state Bush has visited to promote his plan, which the public is receiving with increasing doubt and skepticism. Notably Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) -- who is also Senate Finance Committee Chairman -- said yesterday that there is room for compromise on the size of private incestment accounts. While President Bush is promoting a plan to divert four percentage points of the payroll tax into a private account, Grassley believes the amount is negotiable, and stated he plans to make compromise an issue when the Finance Committee meets on Social Security this summer.
Grassley also noted that even though he is in favor of establishing these accounts, he does not believe they address the problem of social security solvency. He said, "I like personal accounts.... So you have personal accounts as an issue in and of themselves, and then over here, you've got the solvency problem. I want to deal with both of them." The Finance Panel is planning on holding Social Security hearings in April, however no dates have been set yet. For more details on Bush's visit to Iowa and recent Social Security happenings, click here. Also check this Economic Policy Institute briefing paper on how Social Security fits into the Bush budget. The paper, by Max Sawicky, is aptly titled "Collision Course."
Posted by Becky Lewis
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