CNS NEWS/CNSNews.com February 1, 2006

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Dems Cheer Congress's 'Do Nothing' Approach on Social Security
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
February 01, 2006
(CNSNews.com) - President George W. Bush received applause from Democrats during Tuesday night's State of the Union address when he mentioned that Congress never acted on his Social Security overhaul plan.
One Republican senator called it "telling and sad" that Democrats would applaud when reminded that Congress has ignored a pressing problem.
In his speech, President Bush noted that by the year 2030, spending for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid alone will be almost 60 percent of the entire federal budget.
"And that will present future Congresses with impossible choices -- staggering tax increases, immense deficits, or deep cuts in every category of spending," Bush said.
"Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security (Democrats applaud) -- yet the rising cost of entitlements is a problem that is not going away."
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) called the Democrats' reaction "a stunning admission that they want to keep the status quo."
Democrats have said, "We're not going to work with you," Hutchison said in an interview on Fox & Friends.
It was a telling response, said former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie. "To see Democrats in the Congress stand up and applaud the fact that our Social Security system is going bankrupt was remarkable to me," Gillespie told Fox News.
Responding to Gillespie, Democrat analyst Elaine Karmack, a former Al Gore adviser, said, "The applause was because the Social Security proposal last year was a terrible proposal that the Democrats disagreed with -- and so did the rest of the country."
President Bush asked lawmakers Tuesday night to join him in creating a bipartisan commission to "examine the full impact of baby boom retirements on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
"We need to put aside partisan politics and work together and get this problem solved," Bush said.
But Republicans note that Democrats repeatedly have rebuffed President Bush's efforts to reform the Social Security system -- and they have refused to offer a solution of their own.
Last June, one Democrat strategist said it was politically advantageous for Democrats to oppose President Bush's Social Security overhaul.
"This is our shot to win back the Congress and we should not blow it," Robert Weiner told his fellow Democrats in June.
Weiner, a public relations executive and former chief of staff for the House Aging Committee, wrote a letter to Democrat leaders, suggesting that Democrats run ads before the midterm election, reminding voters that it is the Republican Party that "tried to dismantle Social Security" and that they will "try again and again."
He said Democrats should tell voters, 'This time, don't give them the chance."

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SeeDems Cheer Congress's 'Do Nothing' Approach on Social Security )