WP: Frist Hints of Sacrifices In Social Security Changes [View All]

[DeepModem Mom]

Frist Hints of Sacrifices In Social Security Changes

By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 17, 2005; Page A02


Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said yesterday that Americans might need to "take some medicine" to fix Social Security, and said he would consider a plan being floated by the White House that would reduce scheduled benefits.

White House officials, in promoting President Bush's idea of allowing younger workers to open personal stock accounts with part of their Social Security taxes, have raised the possibility of changing the formula for Social Security benefits so that they would rise with the rate of inflation rather than wages, which tend to grow faster than inflation.

Frist, a potential candidate for president in 2008, said on ABC's "This Week" that he wants "everything pretty much on the table" as he begins talking to Democrats, including adjusting benefits to price inflation instead of wage inflation.

"I think good policy makes good politics, ultimately," Frist said. "I think if we show boldness in addressing the issues now, and not in a catastrophic way five or six or seven years from now, but right now have people take some medicine, it'll be to the benefit of all Americans."...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14274-2005Jan16.html