President Bush yesterday said it appears that "there
will be no solution" to Social Security's looming insolvency because
Democrats are blocking reform with "too much politics."
The statement came two days after Democrats at the president's State
of the Union address cheered his failure to cajole Congress into
reforming Social Security.
"There's a solution to be had," Mr. Bush said during a visit to a 3M
plant outside Minneapolis. "Unfortunately, the atmosphere in Washington
appears that there will be no solution because there's too much
politics."
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the president was
not trying to signal a shift in his Social Security policy. The White
House insists that Mr. Bush has not given up on his quest to reform
Social Securityalthough he is not pushing the proposal as aggressively
as he did last year.
Still, the president decided yesterday to push back against
Democrats, who jumped to their feet and cheered lustily Tuesday, when
Mr. Bush mentioned his failure to reform Social Security.
"It's not right for members of Congress [to] look at workers paying
into a system that's going bankrupt and not tell the truth," the
president said yesterday. He accused Congress members of irresponsibly
saying " 'Vote for me, I'm going to make sure the benefits grow faster
than the rate of inflation.' "
