National Journal's CongressDaily

November 6, 2001 10:30 am Eastern Time
SECTION: EMPLOYMENT

Matsui Concerned About Panel's Social Security Conclusions

House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee ranking member Robert Matsui, D-Calif., has written the cochairmen of President Bush's Social Security commission to express concern over reports that the panel would list reform options instead of backing a comprehensive plan.

In the letter late last week to former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., and Richard Parsons, Matsui said he was "disturbed" by reports that panel members might fall short of their recently stated intention to back a proposal to ensure the program's solvency for 75 years.

"I hope my concerns are unwarranted," Matsui said. "The commission would do a disservice to the debate on privatization if it failed to recommend a specific and comprehensive plan--one that would let us directly debate the merits of the president's policies and see the costs and tradeoffs. The American public deserves no less."

The commission's executive director, Charles Blahous, acknowledged that commissioners are more likely to lay out a number of options rather than call for a single plan.

He stressed that the commission members do not want to "tie the hands of Congress" and said detailed explanations of a number of plans should give Congress more confidence in evaluating different options.

Bush established the commission to buttress his call for Social Security reform based on partial privatization. The commission was charged with finding a way to achieve it, taking into account the details of financing a transition and preserving current benefits without cuts for retirees and disabled people.

Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., agreed with the need for a credible plan but asked, "What is [Matsui's] plan to rescue Social Security?"

Kolbe charged Matsui probably would criticize any proposal by the commission because most of its members support partial privatization. Kolbe said Matsui and other critics reject those options but support only the status quo for the system.

Kolbe and Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Texas, have offered a reform plan that Kolbe said is fully scored.

Matusi reiterated his view that any alternative should be free of "budget gimmicks--such as large loans to the Social Security system paid off outside the 75-year window, double-counting the Social Security Trust Fund surplus, transfers from general revenues that exceed projections of on-budget surpluses or are not otherwise financed and the like."

Blahous said the costs, trade-offs and consequences of each option offered by the committee will be presented in detail.

"This is a test that will definitely be met," he said.

The commission is to meet again Friday and will issue its report by the end of the year. -- By Stephen Norton