Bush vows not to attack ideas for Social Security

President Bush yesterday called for a “civil debate” on Social Security reform, and promised that the White House will work in good faith with Democrats and not use the issue as a political club.

“All ideas are on the table. That’s how you get the job done,” Mr. Bush told a gathering of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America at the Grand Hyatt Washington hotel. “And when somebody puts an idea on the table, you can rest assured the White House will not attack them.”

On Capitol Hill, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, mocked the president’s 60-city tour to sell the American public on the need to make major changes in Social Security.

“I said to the president last week, ‘Get out there, take on 60 more cities. You’re doing great,’” she said, pointing to some polls that showed the public has lost confidence in his ability to fix Social Security.

“We are continuing the drumbeat across America to talk about how important Social Security is to our country, what a fundamental pillar it is to the retirement security of our seniors and how we will fight those who would undermine it,” Mrs. Pelosi said.

Mr. Bush has not offered a specific plan but says incorporating private savings accounts is essential to overhauling the 70-year-old government retirement system. Social Security trustees have reported that the program will begin running a deficit in 2017 and will go bankrupt in 2042 because of the pressure retiring baby boom generation will exert.

Mr. Bush said yesterday that “our government has made promises to younger Americans that it cannot keep” when it comes to Social Security.

“It’s important for them to know there is a hole in the safety net,” Mr. Bush said, explaining that the Social Security Trust Fund does not contain money waiting to be paid out at retirement, but “is full of IOUs.”

Democrats who say Medicare is in more need of an overhaul regularly cite a Congressional Budget Office report that states Social Security will be able to pay 100 percent of its benefits until 2052.

“We want to deal with it,” Mrs. Pelosi said yesterday. “We have time to do it right.”

Democrats have refused to negotiate with the White House on Social Security unless Mr. Bush drops his insistence on allowing private accounts to be funded in part by the Social Security taxes that workers contribute in the pay-as-you-go system.

Mrs. Pelosi indicated yesterday that that demand still stands.

“I would like for us to go to the table in bipartisan way, now that the president’s plan has been discredited, and talk about how we deal with Social Security from 2050 to 2100, because that’s where the issue is,” Mrs. Pelosi said.

Social Security currently gives those who paid into the system a 1.8 percent return on their contributions. The White House contends that the historical return of safe investments in stocks and bonds — which would be permitted for private accounts — is between 4 percent and 7 percent.