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Proof of Bush's Social Security intentions will be in the panel
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 2, 2001 WASHINGTON -- There are two kinds of presidential commissions -- those that are rigged to endorse the president's pet proposals and those that aren't. So the question arises: Which kind of commission does President Bush intend to create to deal with Social Security reform? In recent days, administration officials have let it be known that Bush is considering the appointment of two former senators, Republican Bob Dole and Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan, to head the new Social Security commission. If Dole and Moynihan are chosen, you can bet that the commission is rigged. Like Bush, both Dole and Moynihan are known to favor some form of privatization of Social Security, the plan that would give future recipients an opportunity to personally direct the investment of a portion of their payroll taxes. AARP top lobbyist John Rother, whose group opposes privatization, says he fears that Bush wants the commission to do nothing more than "flesh out" the proposal for privatizing Social Security that he offered during his campaign for the presidency. "If that's the case, then Bush might as well appoint Larry Lindsey (Bush's chief economic adviser) to head the commission," Rother said. Bush announced his plans to create a Social Security commission during his first address to a joint session of Congress on Feb. 27. He has since indicated he would name the members of the commission in April and ask them to report their findings by October. In his speech to Congress, the president strongly suggested that he does not intend to appoint members to the commission who hold opposing views on privatization. He said: "Reform should be based on these principles: It must preserve the benefits of all current retirees and those nearing retirement. It must offer personal savings accounts to younger workers who want them." Ideally, the president's Social Security commission would be patterned on a similar panel created in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan and headed by Federal Reserve Board Chief Alan Greenspan. That commission, on which both Dole and Moynihan served, succeeded in producing an honestly bipartisan compromise that helped to cure a looming funding crisis in Social Security in the mid 1980s. Yet even though both Dole and Moynihan are veterans of an earlier Social Security commission, they are no longer in a position to recreate the same kind of bipartisan consensus. Not only are they both supporters of privatization, but because they no longer serve in the Congress they do not have the same influence over legislation they had in 1983. Of course, some of Moynihan's ideas are a little too radical for Bush. He thinks that Social Security taxes should be raised, something the Republicans oppose. Nevertheless, Moynihan is one of the few Democrats who is known to favor privatization. And if the commission is looking for a solution acceptable to younger contributors to the Social Security system, does it really make sense to appoint two men to head the panel who are both in their 70s? If, as Republicans contend, young people are the impetus for privatization, Bush needs to find some young appointees who are willing to serve on his commission and lend it credibility. Dole, who has described his service on the 1983 Social Security commission as "my proudest achievement," has said that the Greenspan-led panel succeeded because it provided "a valuable forum for the diverse views" on Social Security. "Ultimately," Dole said, "workable legislation requires concessions from all parties who have a stake in Social Security. And I remember on this particular package, nobody liked it, which meant to me it was probably a pretty good package. . . . There were some things that we obviously all objected to. But overall we thought the system worked fairly well." But it seems that Bush wants to duplicate the experience of the 1983 commission in name only. If he wants the commission to produce a genuine compromise, he must assemble a group with widely diverse views who are committed to accepting whatever consensus is reached. Success may depend on the president adopting the same openness to compromise that existed when the 1983 commission's findings were enacted into law. Otherwise, failure looms. - Sara Fritz can be reached by e-mail at fritz@sptimes.com and by telephone at (202) 463-0576.
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