House GOP Won’t Back Social Security Reform, for Now

House Republican leaders have decided not to push on their own for a major overhaul of Social Security before next year’s elections, virtually dooming prospects for congressional action on the issue in the 106th Congress.

The decision came in the wake of an internal party poll showing that a congressional battle over Social Security could hurt Republicans in the 2000 elections, when they will face a tough fight from Democrats for control of the House.

Responding to reports of the GOP leaders’ decision, President Clinton criticized it Friday and asked the Republicans to reconsider. The Republicans said they would do so only if Clinton takes the initiative to reach a compromise. “That’s the only way you can reform Social Security: that’s with the president’s leadership,” said Michele Davis, spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas).

Clinton contended in his statement that Republican leaders, just a week after adopting a budget promising a big tax cut, are “sending a message that Congress is either unable or unwilling to face up to the challenge of strengthening Social Security.” This is unacceptable, he said.

“I have proposed concrete steps to bolster Social Security and offered time and again to work with the Congress in a bipartisan way to make the tough choices needed to secure the trust fund over the long term,” Clinton said. “Republican leaders have yet to consider my proposals or advance any of their own.”

The Republican leadership’s decision was first reported Friday by the New York Times. The decision came in a series of private meetings over the last two weeks when the three top party leaders--House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Armey and House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas)--told colleagues that they could not support any major reform proposal at this time.

The decision was made just as GOP leaders on the House Ways and Means Committee were working out final details of a plan to revamp the Social Security system to include private investment accounts.

Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R-Texas) and the panel’s Social Security subcommittee chairman, E. Clay Shaw Jr. (R-Fla.), were planning to unveil their plan next week.

Archer said Friday that he and Shaw intend to go ahead with their plan and will announce details “very soon.” They said they want to work with Clinton on a bipartisan solution.

But Republican leaders intend to focus on a so-called lock-box proposal to protect Social Security surpluses from being used for other purposes, according to GOP aides. This proposal does not involve reforms in the system, however, and has big problems of its own: Democrats blocked it in the Senate, arguing that it could complicate government efforts to deal with economic downturns and meet its financial obligations, including payment of Social Security checks. The White House has threatened a veto.

Prospects for agreement on legislation to reform either Social Security or Medicare have steadily declined as lawmakers faced the politically painful steps that would have to be taken, such as increasing taxes or cutting benefits.