|
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
White House Aide Discusses Raising Payroll Tax Cap
Congress returned from recess this week, during which House Republicans alone held 550 events on Bush's plan to overhaul Social Security. Despite all this talk of privatization accounts, even White House aides are saying that perhaps other reforms should be considered.
On April 5th, Chuck Blahous, an economic advisor to Bush and the administration's top aide on Social Security policy, said that raising the $90,000 cap on wages subject to the Social Security payroll tax would delay the onset of the long term Social Security shortfall. Blahous did not rule out White House support for proposals to raise the cap, but many GOP congressmen are opposed to the idea, including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX). Others such as Sen. Graham (R-SC), have been criticized for supporting such an idea.
Also yesterday, the President continued his push to "educate" the public on the need for Social Security reform. On his visit to West Virginia, he commented, "There is no 'trust fund,' just IOUs that I saw firsthand, that future generations will pay -- will pay for either in higher taxes, or reduced benefits, or cuts to other critical government programs." The full transcript of his comments can be found here.
Comments such as these are unnecessarily misleading about the health of our Social Security system, which can pay 100% of benefits for years to come. It is rather the administration's expensive tax cuts and the general decrease of available national revenue that will cause future generations to pay in terms of reduced social benefits and cuts in critical government programs.
In response to Bush's comments, Democratic Congressional leaders Harry Reid (D-NV) and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), submitted the following comments: "It is simply wrong to suggest that the Social Security Trust Fund does not exist, or that the securities held by the Trust Fund are merely pieces of paper. For a President to even suggest that the federal government might, for the first time, default on a security backed by the full faith and credit of the United States unnecessarily misleads American workers about the health of the Social Security program." For the rest of their comments, click here.
Posted by Becky Lewis
|