December 7, 2004 06:26 PM
Bush To Borrow To Fix Social Security
Excerpt: President Bush expects the federal government will have to increase its borrowing to pay for transition costs associated with adding personal retirement accounts to Social Security, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Monday.
President Bush expects the federal government will have to increase its borrowing to pay for transition costs associated with adding personal retirement accounts to Social Security, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Monday.
"The Social Security system is unsustainable. It needs to be fixed," McClellan said. Asked if the "upfront transition" costs meant more government borrowing, he said "that's what you're looking at doing" to sustain the 70-year-old government-sponsored pension system.
The disclosure disturbed Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, who said the White House is avoiding difficult policy choices by borrowing more money to fix the system.
"Ideally, Social Security reform should be done without any borrowing. That would require hard choices that politicians aren't inclined to make," Bixby said.
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