Given my almost singular focus on this issue during the past few months, I couldn't resist a brief appearance even though I'm supposed to be working on other things. But this is worth a big Friday Woo-Hoo and a full read!
Looks like the Democrats may stand their ground.
An overwhelming majority of Democratic senators said they will oppose, under any circumstances, Bush's plan to allow younger workers to divert a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes into individual investment accounts that would follow them into retirement. A few others said they will not support such accounts if they require substantial government borrowing. Even many Republicans say that is inevitable because the alternative involves unacceptably large cuts in benefits or tax increases to replace the diverted taxes or both.
The best is after the jump.
Here's the
really good part:
In the clearest sign yet that Bush's efforts to win bipartisan support are flagging, several Democrats whom the White House has been courting said they will not support the accounts at all. They include Sens. Thomas R. Carper (Del.) and Mary Landrieu (La.). Three other Bush targets -- Sens. Kent Conrad (N.D.), Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.) and Mark Pryor (Ark.) -- said they will not support individual accounts financed by heavy borrowing.
This has got to be a big let-down for WH officials, who reluctantly admitted they were "led to believe Lieberman, Nelson, Landrieu, Pryor and Carper were open to the individual accounts."
In a fairly thorough rundown, the article mentions current positioning by some of those Dems that have created problems before (most recently on the Bankrupcy Bomb), including Sarbanes, Inouye, and Byrd. Those of you who keep up with these things will remember that only 3 Dems didn't sign the March 3 letter to the Preznit demanding that he take privatization carved from SS $ off the table or they wouldn't play. Of these 3 (Feingold, Conrad, and Nelson (Neb.), Feingold and Conrad both told the Post this week that they
would not support individual accounts under the scenarios that White House officials have generally outlined. Conrad said he will not agree to personal accounts "financed by massive borrowing and steep cuts in benefits."
But by my reckoning, that makes Sen. Ben Nelson as the Dean of the Fainthearted Faction. He told the Post he is still open to considering Bush's proposals. Nothing like a minority of one, eh, Josh?
If Nelson, Sarbanes, Byrd, and Inouye need any weekend reading, they could browse through these previous posts:
All Aboard the SS Titanic: Reports of Icebergs
On the Cato Leninist Strategy
Suitable for Framing: Republicans on SS
The Language Gestapo (on "private" vs. personal accounts)
Or better yet, anyone who still needs weapons for this war, should read
this. Jonathan Chait `splains it all.