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Roll Call: Life After Social Security Reform
November 07th 09:35:00 AM
As you can read in this article, not everyone is giving up easily, and the opposition forces have already dismantled.
ROLL CALL
By Tory Newmyer
November 7, 2005
With most Members of Congress running away from the issue of Social
Security as they head into the 2006 midterm elections, some lawmakers
and lobbyists are still convinced that an overhaul is possible in the
109th Congress.
This clutch of believers, facing strong political headwinds, is hoping
to reignite interest in the effort by scoring some small-bore wins or,
failing that, at least finding time to debate the issue on the Senate
floor.
"The thing that makes me most optimistic is that we continue to get word from the White House that the president has this at the top of his priority list," said Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). "We continue to push the first steps."
To do that, DeMint is teaming with Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and a
dramatically scaled-down, business-backed campaign to promote a pair of bills that work around the edges of what President Bush was pushing
earlier this year.
DeMint's bill would dedicate any surplus Social Security funds, now
diverted to other federal programs, into private accounts for workers.
Santorum's measure would guarantee that those born before 1950 would not see their Social Security benefits cut.
Neither plan addresses the program's long-term insolvency, nor do they
approach the scale of the transition to private accounts that President Bush envisioned while he barnstormed the country in support of reform earlier this year.
But after months of bruising partisan debate on the issue and an
apparent desire on both sides to move on, Santorum and DeMint's backers hope to inch the issue back to the forefront by concentrating on some areas of agreement.
The renewed drive comes as Democrats, whose united flank against reform sunk its prospects this year, have all but declared victory and moved on to other issues.
Notably, Americans United to Protect Social Security, the umbrella
lobbying group that worked against the White House plan, has effectively dismantled. It now has six people on staff, down from about 100 at the height of the debate, while its old infrastructure is now focused on the budget reconciliation process.
"Their prospects to reinvigorate the effort to privatize Social Security are about as likely to succeed as new Coke," said Brad Woodhouse, spokesman for Americans United. He noted that President Bush himself has backed off his plan, pointing to comments Bush made earlier this month acknowledging that Congress lacks the appetite to address it.
White House spokesman Trent Duffy said the president remains committed
to reform.
"He's going to keep talking about it," Duffy said. "The president's
going to continue making it a priority and continue working with
Congressional leaders on it."
Bush, Duffy said, "believes the approach by Sens. Santorum and DeMint
moves in the right direction."
The Senators are reaching out to business groups for help in promoting
their bills. Last week, they talked up the proposals at a membership
meeting of the Coalition for the Modernization and Protection of
America's Social Security, a business-backed coalition.
"There was a lot of energy in the room," said Larry Burton, executive
director of the Business Roundtable, which hosts COMPASS. "People are
very anxious about progress; they're anxious about movement."
COMPASS is not the only pro-reform group trying to put a brave face on
the failure of Bush's Social Security overhaul to advance this year. For Our Grandchildren, a grass-roots group, will be working on strengthening its membership rolls, said its chairman, former Rep. Tim Penny
(D-Minn.).
Since interest in the issue by editorial pages and radio talk shows has waned, Penny said, the group has turned its focus to organizing events on college campuses. The group's principals will meet this week in Washington, D.C., to update their long-term plan.
Meanwhile, Students for Saving Social Security, a group founded in the
spring by college students, is also trying to add members. "We're going to grow stronger and more powerful, so when it does come back, we can be ready," founder Jonathon Swanson said.
Not everyone's outlook is as sunny. Derrick Max, executive director of
both COMPASS and the Alliance for Worker Retirement Security, is
considering leaving his posts at the end of the year after 15 years
working for reform.
"I kind of put all my energy into passing it this year," Max said. "And we didn't."
His contract with the alliance is up in December, and he said he would
like to spend more time working with his wife at the Cornerstone
Community School, which they co-founded to educate children from
low-income families.
"I see myself just getting out of lobbying and working for a private
Christian foundation, or something like that, where I don't have to
lobby and schmooze and play politics and the like," he said.
Nevertheless, Max insists, he is an "eternal optimist" about the
prospects for reform. He still wears a blue "Save Social Security Now!" sticker on the lapel of his blazer, and he said he sees a path to achieving comprehensive reform in this Congress.
"In some sense, the bleakness is creating its own opportunity," he said.
Now that centrist Senate Democrats have scored a win against Bush on the issue, Max said they may feel free to embrace parts of his program, and reform could gain momentum early next year.
In internal meetings, COMPASS is assessing that likelihood. Max said at the most recent meeting of the group's steering committee, its directors for the first time discussed how and why the reform drive derailed.
"It was decided at the end of that meeting [that] at some point we're
going to have to sit down and really pick apart all the things we did
right and all the things we think we could have done differently," he
said. But he added that it is still too early to conduct a top-to-bottom assessment.
Meanwhile, Santorum and DeMint are working within the Senate GOP
Conference to build support for their measures. Senate leadership is
behind their efforts and, if floor time can be spared, will help them
bring the measures up for debate, a GOP leadership aide said.
But in the end, DeMint said, "the president is going to have lead on
it."
"Every indication we've gotten from his staff is that nothing has
changed," he said.
Posted by Chris Schrimpf
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