March 03,2005

Chairman Grassley comments on the Social Security debate

M E M O R A N D U M

TO: Reporters and Editors
FR: Jill Kozeny, 4-1308
RE: Social Security
DA: March 3, 2004

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Committee on Finance, issued the following comment today about the debate on Social Security legislation.

“I support personal accounts. They could help younger workers save more for their own retirement. They could help lower-income workers in America build equity. Personal accounts are on the table along with all the other ideas to strengthen Social Security.

“Democrat leaders in Congress are spending all their time tearing down personal accountsrather than taking responsibility for the future of Social Security. Hard line political oppositionto personal accounts misses the point and doesn’t do anything about Social Security’s real andundeniable solvency problem.

“The President has made Social Security a priority issue and Congress should takeadvantage of this presidential leadership. If we don’t, our grandchildren won’t have a goodSocial Security program like their grandparents have today. The chance to fix Social Security’sproblems may not come again for ten years, so we shouldn’t miss this opportunity.”