Istook Meets With President Bush
Istook Meets With President Bush
April 27, 2005
Social Security, Entitlement Reform Discussed
Washington, D.C. -- Congressman Ernest Istook (R-OK) met for over an hour with President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney in the White House residence this afternoon to discuss Social Security reform as well as other entitlement reform. The President requested the meeting with the steering committee of the Republican Study Committee, a group of over 100 conservative members of Congress. Istook is one of four founding members of the Republican Study Committee and one of the 16-member steering committee.
"I was pleased that the President requested the meeting," said Istook. "It reflects a deeper appreciation of who the Republican Study Committee is and the importance of conservatives in Congress."
"The President was adamant that he was not going to let up on Social Security reform because it's so important. I praised the President for his courage in putting this issue on the table and thinking about the next generation instead of the next election."
"I also encouraged him to emphasize that his plan would take away Congress' ability to borrow from the Social Security trust fund and to spend that money on other things. Under the current system, the money paid into the trust fund has to be loaned to the Congress, and it's spent rather than being invested. His plan would change that, and guarantee that this money is invested instead."
"The President also expressed a desire to go beyond Social Security and to reform other entitlement programs. I complimented him for that, and I gave him an article I wrote (published last week in the Washington Times), outlining how we can do that through broader welfare reform. We haven't come close to finishing the job on welfare reform, and it's costing us hundreds of billions of dollars each year. For the sake of our kids and grandkids, we need to reform all our entitlement programs. Able-bodied, working-age people shouldn't be able to stay on public assistance indefinitely."
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ok05_istook/SSEJI_Pres.html