Survivor Benefits Face Cut, Official Says

President Bush’s preferred approach for Social Security would mean smaller survivor benefits for middle- and upper-income children and widows than they are now promised, a top administration official said Wednesday.

At the same time, Bush envisions no changes in the benefit system for the disabled, said Allan Hubbard, chairman of the National Economic Council and the administration’s point man on Social Security.

In addition to retirees, Social Security provides benefits to the disabled as well as to children under 18 who have lost a working parent. Surviving spouses can also qualify for a benefit until the child turns 16.

“The president is committed to making sure the disabled are taken care of just as they’ve been promised they’d be taken care of,” Hubbard said in an interview with the Associated Press in his White House office.

Bush also believes the approach he’s talked about “will provide adequate and reasonable benefits for beneficiaries, which includes survivors, widows and the retirees,” he said.

Other administration officials at the interview were more specific in saying the changes Bush had in mind would apply to surviving children and widows.

Progress has been slow on the Bush plan, with polls indicating public opposition to the private investment accounts, Democratic lawmakers almost unanimously opposed to them and many Republicans reluctant to make major changes in the program.

Bush has urged enactment of a bill that guarantees permanent solvency for the Depression-era program while it creates a new system of voluntary private accounts for younger workers. The accounts would be funded by diverting a portion of payroll taxes, which critics say would further weaken Social Security.

Bush has repeatedly said that the individual accounts would allow millions of Americans to retire with a nest egg to be passed along to heirs -- something the current Social Security system does not provide.

However, White House officials said that about 15% of all retirees under Bush’ plan would probably not be able to pass along a Social Security inheritance -- a figure that rises to 30% for those with lower lifetime wages. They would have to spend their entire private investment account to make sure they remained out of poverty in their older years, according to tentative administration projections.