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Menendez Pledges to Defend Social Security Against Bush-Kean Jr. Privatization Scheme

Date: Sept. 22, 2006
Location: New Brunswick, NJ
Issues: Senior Citizens Entitlements and the Safety Net


Menendez Pledges to Defend Social Security Against Bush-Kean Jr. Privatization Scheme

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) said Friday that the Bush administration has renewed its assault on Social Security, and Tom Kean Jr.'s record proves that he supports the President's privatization plan that would cut retiree benefits by up to 40 percent.

Speaking to an audience of several hundred New Jersey seniors at a luncheon in Belleville, Menendez recalled George Bush's visit to Kean Jr.'s hometown of Westfield in March 2005 to stump for his privatization plan. While Kean Jr. participated in the day's events, Menendez joined New Jerseyans to protest the Bush plan, which would gut the most successful social safety-net program in U.S. history.

"Tom Kean, Jr. doesn't want the public to know that he has the same position as the President on Social Security. Well, I have news for him: New Jersey's seniors cannot afford to gamble on George Bush's privatization scheme, and they can't afford to gamble on George Bush's choice for New Jersey's U.S. Senate seat either," Menendez said.

Menendez pointed out comments made by Bush in June—as well as remarks made by the President's new Treasury Secretary and Republican congressional leaders in the months since—indicating that the White House intends to make privatization a top priority in 2007. Menendez said Kean Jr. longs to join the Bush Congress so that he can join in this push.

Kean Jr. has supported privatization since 2000. That year, as a candidate for the U.S. House, Kean Jr. argued for a system of individual private accounts that would take money out of the Social Security trust fund. Then, just last year, Kean Jr. voted twice for a state Senate resolution calling on Congress to defeat Bush's risky privatization scheme.

"Last year, just three months after Tom Kean Jr. happily welcomed George Bush to his backyard to peddle privatization, he voted not once—but twice—in support of the Bush privatization plan," Menendez said. "Social Security is on the ballot in New Jersey this year, and the choice is between someone who will side with seniors to protect this bedrock program, and someone who wants to help George Bush finish the job to dismantle it."

http://www.menendez2006.com/news/releases/20060922_privatization/

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