At 75, Social Security ripens as voter issue

Updated 15m ago
By John Fritze, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — They spent months on health care and Wall Street in Congress, but as lawmakers talk with voters during the summer recess they are increasingly focused on an entirely different issue: Social Security.

Hoping to capitalize on the popular program in advance of the midterm elections, lawmakers in both parties are using this weekend's 75th anniversary of Social Security to position themselves as guardians of its 53 million beneficiaries.

Democrats are holding events at senior centers and are attacking plans by some Republicans to privatize the program. GOP lawmakers say Democrats have "raided" the Social Security trust fund by spending, rather than saving, excess payroll taxes.

"I believe in the promise that was made in 1935 of Social Security as a way to make sure seniors don't fall into poverty," said Rep. Mark Schauer, D-Mich. "My opponent has demonstrated opposition to (its) basic structure."

His GOP challenger, ex-congressman Tim Walberg, said he wants to prevent Social Security funds from being spent on other programs: "Mark Schauer is so eager to spend more taxpayer dollars that he does not mind raiding Social Security or borrowing from China."

The politics are playing out as a bipartisan commission created by President Obama is studying ways to cut the federal government's $1.5 trillion budget deficit and $13.3 trillion debt. A report is due in December.

The Social Security trust fund won't run dry until 2037, a recent report by its trustees says, but aging Baby Boomers will continue to drain its resources. The program is projected to run annual deficits starting in 2015.

Nancy LeaMond, executive vice president of AARP, said the president's commission is creating renewed interest in the issue. The seniors' group is also trying to capitalize by attending state fairs and asking seniors in 29 states to sign petitions in support of the program.

"There is a public discussion starting here," she said.

In Nevada, GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle is airing an ad in which she attacks her Democratic opponent, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, for "raiding the Social Security trust fund ... for his own pet projects."

Reid criticized Angle for weeks over statements she made this year in support of privatizing the program.

In an e-mail to members before the break, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., suggested Democrats meet with voters to highlight how Social Security is "under assault once again from congressional Republicans."

That was a reference to a proposal by Rep. Paul Ryan, D-Wis., to let workers under 55 invest a portion of their Social Security payroll tax in a private retirement account. The idea, part of a larger deficit reduction plan, has not received broad support. President George W. Bush proposed a similar plan, but it stalled in Congress.

Paul Lindsay, a spokesman with the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Democrats are trying to gain ground with seniors they lost when they proposed cuts to Medicare as part of Obama's health care law. "Now they're adding insult to injury by attempting to scare these voters with false attacks," he said.

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