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Wexler offers details on Social Security plan

The Boca Raton Democrat's answer to Bush's plan is drawing Republican plaudits - and grumbling from within his own party.

DELRAY BEACH - U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler on Monday unveiled details of a Social Security bill he said would ensure the retirement program's perpetual solvency by raising taxes on higher-income Americans.

Wexler, who represents more Social Security recipients than any other House Democrat, said he was introducing the bill because Democrats should take concrete steps to guarantee the program's future instead of simply criticizing President Bush's proposals, which are centered on private investment accounts.

"It's time for the Democratic Party to speak out in support of the Social Security program, which is the essence of what it means to be a Democrat," Wexler, of Boca Raton, told about 300 supporters in a speech outlining his bill. "We will not win this debate by default."

Wexler's legislation, dubbed the Social Security Forever Act, would remove the current cap on payroll taxes that fund Social Security. Workers and employers now pay a combined 12.4 percent Social Security tax on wages up to $90,000 a year, but none on amounts above that. The bill would impose a 6 percent tax on income above $90,000 - 3 percent paid by the wage earner and 3 percent by the employer.

The bill also would attempt to protect Social Security funds from being diverted for other reasons by reinstituting expired "pay-as-you-go" rules in the federal budget process that require that any future tax cuts or spending increases be paid for elsewhere.

Wexler said the tax increase would easily raise enough to cover projected future Social Security shortfalls without cutting benefits or raising taxes on people with lower incomes. He said the measure is targeted mainly at wealthier people who have benefited from Republican-led tax cuts since 2001.

"What we need to do is raise the revenue from the people who have received the largest tax cuts over the past five years," said Wexler, a five-term congressman who represents more than 180,000 Social Security recipients in Palm Beach and Broward counties.

Until now, Democrats have generally refrained from offering alternatives to the president's plan. Bush, who contends that Social Security faces a funding crisis as the baby boom generation retires, wants to create private investment accounts and a new way of calculating benefit growth that Democrats have repeatedly blasted as essentially a reduction in future benefits for millions of people.

Democrats reacted frostily to Wexler's bill.

"Congressman Wexler represents a party of one," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"It's still the belief of the Democratic caucus that the president has to take private accounts off the table before we can begin substantive negotiations," Manley said.

But the possibility of a crack in the united Democratic front against an alternative to the Bush plan was applauded by many Republicans, even if they disagreed with Wexler's approach. The White House earlier praised Wexler for coming up with a plan and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, joined in Monday.

"Congressman Wexler's actions today represent the first of what will probably be many defections by rank-and-file Democrats who shun their leadership's continued obstruction," DeLay said. "I welcome any Democrat, no matter what their ideas, to join Republicans in our efforts to find solutions to strengthen and preserve Social Security."

[Last modified May 17, 2005, 01:36:07]