Bennett hopes to spur talk on Social Security

WASHINGTON — Sen. Bob Bennett introduced a Social Security bill this past week that he knows has no chance of passing, but he hopes it will at least start productive talks on how to reform the country's retirement account for the future.

Bennett, R-Utah, has been working on his Social Security bill for about a year — even receiving a go-ahead from the White House because the bill recommends something different from President Bush's main initiative to develop private accounts for the federal program. Democrats refuse to support any type of private account idea, which has left the Social Security reform debate at a standstill.

"We cannot afford to ignore this issue any longer. Burying our heads in the sand will only magnify the folly of inaction," Bennett said Thursday on the Senate floor.

"I agree that personal accounts alone cannot fix Social Security's solvency problems," Bennett said. "However, addressing the long-term retirement security needs of future retirees ultimately cannot be met without some form of personal accounts and stronger incentives to increase personal saving."

Bennett's bill contains nothing on private accounts but "focuses exclusively on the goal of making Social Security solvent," Bennett said. He titled his bill "The Sustainable Solvency First for Social Security Act."

The bill alters formulas and who receives benefits, although it does not affect those receiving Social Security benefits now or anyone born before 1950. New calculations would start in 2012 and the retirement age would go to up 67 that year.

Under Bennett's bill, Social Security benefits for those who earned high wages during their careers would not rise as much as benefits with lower salaries over their lifetimes, according to a summary of the bill. Workers who depend on Social Security for retirement income would not be affected, according to the bill. It would essentially calculate the amount of a Social Security check on a sliding scale based on how much the recipient made over his or her working time.

The bill does not affect anyone receiving Social Security disability benefits.

President Bush told Bennett last year, "I like your bill. Period," but the White House did not back down from its private account proposals — an idea Bennett does support but does not touch with this bill.

The Senate recognizes Bennett as one of the resident experts on Social Security, an issue that came up during his first campaign in 1992 and one he has studied ever since.

Now it will just be a matter of seeing of getting Republican colleagues to support a plan that has support from the president but is different from his initial plan — and getting Democrats to support anything that has a Republican stamp on it.