Gore Unveils Retiree Savings Plan

Vice President Al Gore laid out his plan to help people save for retirement Tuesday, even as he upped his criticism of George W. Bush’s Social Security proposal, warning that the Republican’s idea to privatize part of the entitlement program could endanger the elderly.

Speaking to a friendly audience of about 500 people gathered in Lexington’s convention center on a hot muggy day, Gore said his “retirement savings plus” plan would give people matching, refundable tax credits that would help them build up retirement savings.

“Together, let’s put an end to the days when savings are a scramble--if not an unthinkable luxury--for too many families,” said Gore, standing on the stage in front of a large blue “Prosperity and progress” sign.

Tuesday’s announcement kicks off the second week of the vice president’s tour through battleground states, designed to highlight the country’s economic strength and the possibilities available with growing budget surpluses.

His savings program would target working- and middle-class people, giving the largest tax credit to married couples making $30,000 or less annually. By investing $500 a year each, along with a $1,500 tax credit, that couple would save up to $400,000 after 35 years, Gore said.

The voluntary, tax-free program would augment the traditional Social Security benefit and would build upon individual retirement accounts managed by the private sector, not the government, he added.

After three weeks in which he has focused primarily on his “family agenda” and “progress and prosperity” tour, Gore began referring more to his opponent Tuesday, although he still avoided mentioning Texas Gov. Bush by name.

The vice president said that he has never supported “what others have proposed”--allowing people to invest part of their Social Security benefits in the stock market--because it would drain the program’s trust fund and put the country back in debt.

“Apart from that harm to our nation’s prosperity formula, it would harm individual elderly folks,” he said. “We won’t, on my watch, become a nation that penalizes the elderly people who happen to retire in a bad year; a nation that penalizes the elderly people who happen to be on the losing end of the roll of the dice.”

The Bush campaign responded by saying that Gore was modeling his proposal after Bush’s plan but was putting out an idea that would not work.

“Al Gore’s latest proposal is flawed: Low-income workers living paycheck to paycheck cannot afford it, and it doesn’t stop Social Security from going broke,” said Bush campaign spokesman Ari Fleischer in a statement. “In contrast, Gov. Bush’s plan allows all low-income workers to invest a portion of their own payroll taxes to save for retirement and it provides a blueprint for bipartisan Social Security reform.”

Speaking to reporters Tuesday afternoon on Air Force Two, Gore said he will once again take on Bush’s Social Security proposal during an appearance today before a Des Moines carpenter’s union.

“But I will never launch a personal negative attack on him,” he added. “I don’t think that’s the way to campaign.”

Meanwhile, House Republicans on Tuesday brought up legislation to make it harder for Congress to use surpluses in the Social Security and Medicare trust funds for other purposes. The so-called lockbox legislation was approved by the House, 420 to 2. Democrats complained that the bill was a “late and half-hearted” response to Gore’s proposal last week to take Medicare entirely off budget.

“Republicans are late to the party,” said House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.).

Gore’s speech Tuesday was peppered with references to “families who live month to month,” promising that his presidency would offer security to young couples trying to raise a down payment for their first home, parents trying to send their children to college and those fighting to pay bills and save.

As he grew up, Gore said, he saw the difference between his well-off friends in Washington, D.C., and the friends he spent summers with as a boy in Carthage, Tenn., who deserved better opportunities.

“And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let that injustice continue,” he said.

Instead of continuing on to Des Moines as planned Tuesday afternoon, Gore made an unscheduled trip back to Washington in case he was needed to cast a decisive vote on a hate-crime bill before the Senate. But the measure passed, 57 to 42.

Under the Constitution, the vice president presides over the Senate but generally only attends to break tie votes. The vice president has diverted his campaign duties several times during the last year to be at the Capitol in case his vote was needed.

He said a hate-crime bill is necessary for “James Byrd, for Matthew Shepard, for Joseph Ileto,” referring to the African American man dragged to death behind a truck in Texas, the young gay man beaten to death in Wyoming and the Filipino American postal worker shot to death after the attack on the Granada Hills Jewish Community Center.

Meanwhile, two new television ads promoting Gore to black and Latino voters went on the air Tuesday, paid for by the Democratic National Committee.

In one ad the vice president promises, in Spanish, to protect Medicare and Social Security, expand health coverage for children and promote public schools and higher education. The commercial is running on Univision stations in Florida, Illinois, New Mexico and Wisconsin.

An ad supporting a patients’ bill of rights, which is now airing in 17 states, will also be shown on Black Entertainment Television stations in Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania, the DNC announced.

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Times staff writers Janet Hook and Massie Ritsch contributed to this story.

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Retirement Savings Plus

Americans who squirrel away for retirement would see their savings subsidized by the federal government, under a campaign proposal made Tuesday by Vice President Al Gore. The plan, estimated to cost $200 billion over 10 years, offers tax credits to pad workers’ nest eggs. The credit does not replace Social Security and would have to go into savings.

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A married couple earning: $30,000

Each spouse could annually invest: $500

And each spouse would get a yearly tax credit of: $1,500

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A married couple earning: $60,000

Each spouse could annually invest: $1,000

And each spouse would get a yearly tax credit of: $1,000

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A married couple earning: $90,000

Each spouse could annually invest: $1,500

And each spouse would get a yearly tax credit of: $500

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Source: Gore campaign