Standard-Speaker - "Barletta takes new stance on Social Security"

News Article

Standard-Speaker - "Barletta takes new stance on Social Security"

Republican congressional candidate Lou Barletta altered the stance he took on Social Security during his 2002 campaign for Congress on Tuesday, saying he's against any privatization of the nation's largest retirement plan.

But Barletta also blamed U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-11, and Congress for damaging Social Security's future. He said they squandered $4 trillion in the program's payroll taxes on wasteful federal spending since 1990.

Barletta, the Hazleton mayor who wants to replace Kanjorski in Washington, tied ending the war in Iraq "as soon as possible" to Social Security's future. He favors using the war spending and passing a new law to ensure the program's existence. The new law, referred to as a "lockbox," would forbid spending the payroll tax on anything but Social Security benefits.

Barletta said the wasteful federal spending included a $4,100 pay increase that members of Congress accepted this year, increasing their salaries 2.5 percent to $169,300, while Social Security recipients received an average of less than $300.

"They've been using the safety net of more than 55 million beneficiaries and the retirement funds of future generations as their own blank check," Barletta said before about 20 people across from the federal courthouse downtown. "That's wrong. I say it's time to pay the money back."

But Kanjorski, a Democrat, accused Barletta of flip-flopping on Social Security. He said Republicans, led by President Bush, dissipated large projected federal budget surpluses with unnecessary tax cuts for the wealthy that could have ensured Social Security's survival.

"My opponent doesn't like to be identified with Republicans. I wonder why?" Kanjorski said after an appearance at Allied Services dePaul School, referring to Barletta's claim of political independence.

For decades, except for a few years at the end of the Clinton administration, the federal government has borrowed money from Social Security to fund the federal budget. The retirement of the large baby-boomer generation will make that harder to do starting in a decade or so. In the next 40 years, benefits will have to be cut unless the program is altered or new money is found.

Barletta said he opposes raising the retirement age or cutting benefits.
He said he also no longer believes in using part of Social Security payroll taxes to create individual personal retirement accounts. In 2002, he favored allowing investment of the diverted money in government-backed securities or bonds — but not the stock market — overseen by the federal government.
Democrats and some Social Security interest groups interpreted that as a form of privatization that risked the retirement plan's future.

When Barletta announced his candidacy in February, Kanjorski's Democratic backers seized on that position again.

"I don't support privatizing Social Security and anyone who says I do is lying," Barletta said Tuesday. "I'm against personal savings accounts. How much clearer could I be? The public has said it's against personal accounts, so let's take that idea off the table."

Barletta said he would leave the decision on ending the war to "the generals."

In a statement, Kanjorski's campaign berated Barletta for spending war money without advancing a plan for ending the war.

"Is that in 100 years or 50 years?" Kanjorski shot back in an interview.
Kanjorski said the lockbox idea would only work if federal deficits run up by Republicans are eliminated. If the country had stayed on President Clinton's path, the current $10 trillion federal debt would only be about $1 trillion today, leaving hundreds of billions of dollars in interest available to save Social Security and Medicare, he said.

"Instead, they gave this money to the wealthiest 1 percent in this country," he said, referring to the tax cuts. "Finally, I'm glad he's taken a flip-flopped position now. At least we have one target that we can say is his position … The problem is getting back to a balanced budget."

Source