RE: Social Security Roundtable

[National Dialogue Moderator <moderator>]

What steps should Congress take to deal with Social Security's future?

Theoretically, Congress should follow its normal process -- beginning now! 
Members should introduce legislation, actual statutory language that lays 
out a detailed plan addressing all the tough issues, not just spin-doctored 
bullet points designed to appeal to the public.  There should be committee 
hearings that focus on the specific proposals. The committees should take 
up a bill, make whatever changes it feels are appropriate, and vote on it. 
If approved, the bills would go to the full House and Senate for debate. 
Ultimately, the House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, should come to 
some agreement and send a consensus bill to the President, who should sign 
it. The public would be brought into this debate through members of 
Congress' attempts to educate and poll their constituents, through the 
media, and through the efforts of various interest groups. 

This process should begin as soon as possible. Congress needs to decide 
before Memorial Day whether it has the will to take up this important 
debate this year. It is a complicated subject and the work needs to start 
now if there is any hope of getting a bill to the President before the end 
of 1999. If Congress lets things putter along much beyond Memorial Day, 
there won't be sufficient time to get the job done. 

If they don't do it this year, we won't see legislation before 2001. 
Congress won't be willing, or able, to tackle Social Security reform in an 
election year. Presidential candidates will be forced to address the issue 
and make distinctions between their position and their opponents. 
Presidential campaigns are about defining the differences between you and 
your opponent, not about building consensus. 

Congress may not be willing to step up to the plate and make the tough 
choices necessary to achieve true reform. If that is the case, they should 
at least avoid proposals that undermine the possibility of true reform by 
holding out the false promise of a simple, pain-free, solution. They would 
do better to continue trying to educate the public and study the various 
approaches. We don't need another commission or blue-ribbon panel. There is 
amazing consensus about the nature and scope of the problem. The options have 
been well-defined. We need leadership. Politicians willing to take a stand and 
fight for it. A presidential campaign that focuses on Social Security reform 
could serve a very useful function by educating the public about the choices we 
face and by informing our elected officials about the solutions we prefer. 

Ann Combs