Social Security reform is, for all intents and purposes, dead right now. With the SCOTUS nominations at hand, the summer recess right around the corner, and a legislative agenda that is bogged down with numerous other items, those in favor of SS reform (yours truly included) will just have to regroup and keep hope alive:
Six months after Republicans began selling Social Security reform, they all but acknowledge that wide-scale changes won’t happen this year. But knowing they must do something, they are pushing a narrower Social Security proposal in the House.
President Bush continues to campaign for comprehensive reform of the system, but Democrats oppose what they call privatization. Congressional Republican leaders realize the public expects action after hearing about the issue for months.
“We’ve told everyone the house is on fire. It’s time to offer them a fire hose or a bucket or maybe a glass of water, depending on what the Senate can pass,” said Rep. Adam H. Putnam, Florida Republican.
Social Security reform appears to be, for now, so dead that it isn’t even making the news right now. Google news offers up a few stories, but one can assume only because they involve Karl Rove stumping for reform. Rove is always a hot topic in the press, but much more so within the current Plame/Rove firestorm.
Further imperiling Social Security, perversely enough, are the imminent Supreme Court fights. There is more than anecdotal evidence that if the social conservative wing of the GOP is not placated by the President’s picks, and not given the candidate they desire, Social Security reform by this administration will be all but dead. A base that has given their blood, sweat, and tears to support, fund, and elect this President and many of the newer members of Congress would be so demoralized by the appointment of a ‘moderate’ Justice or Justices that it is simply absurd to expect them to support this administration in future legislative endeavors. IN fact, it may not be an exaggeration to see a dramatic loss in the mid-term elections by numerous Republican candidates.
With that in mind, it is interesting to revisit who is in favor of Social Security reform in general and privatization in specific. If the numbers referred to by Adam in this piece in Red State are accurate, the heavier levels of support reside within the youth of America:
Recent polls indicate that young people are embracing President Bush’s proposal for private investment accounts as a means to fix Social Security.
In a February poll, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press reported that 66 percent of Americans between ages 18 and 29 support privatizing a portion of Social Security taxes, up from 64 percent in December.
There seems to be some debate over the accuracy of those numbers, and the Mystery Pollster has more on polling and Social Security awareness.
So, here we are. It appears that for now, Democrats have won the fight, if only temporarily, on the issue of social security reform. Much still hangs in the balance, and it seems as though the fate of social security reform lies with issues wholly unrelated. These include the SCOTUS nominees, the waning popularity of the President, the approval numbers related to the war in Iraq, and the general attitude towards this administration and the current Congress, which as of late appearsto be pretty sour.
We shall see.