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Democratic House Leadership Punishes Independent Thought
-- Why don't we just let Pelosi vote for every Democratic House member?
A leading Republican advocate of using payroll taxes to create private Social Security accounts said Wednesday the effort to corral Democratic backing is futile, and that supporters of the idea must first focus on building grassroots support.
Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who spoke at a Cato Institute event, said fear of retribution from their own leadership was scaring Democrats away from his proposal.
"I have been floating it to Democrats," said Ryan. "Each of them replied to me, 'I like what you're doing, I like this bill, I think it's the right way to go, but my party leadership will break my back. The retribution they are promising against us is as great as I've ever seen, and I can't do it.'"
A Democratic leadership aide indicated this was not the case.
"When the leaders met with the president in a bipartisan leadership meeting, [Bush] said, 'Hold off, see my policy' -- that's what they're doing," the aide said, referring to a recent White House meeting between President Bush and congressional leaders.
"What the leaders have asked is that we allow the president to put out his plan," the aide continued. "Right now, we don't have a lot of details, we have a lot of questions."
The aide did not deny that pressure has been applied to Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Fla., who has signed onto a bill with Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., that would create private Social Security accounts. "Members of the Caucus have expressed to Boyd and to the leadership how unhappy they are," the aide said.
The aide indicated that the chief objection was Boyd's effort to push the bill. The legislation is contrary to a Democratic "set of principles" and his actions go "against the Democratic strategy."
Ryan charged the amount of retribution against Democratic lawmakers promised by the party leadership is so great it has become "very difficult" to get Democratic support.
"Only through grassroots and public education do I think you will break that party gridlock and that party discipline that we see, because right now, trying to do it on a member-to-member personal communication level -- that's not enough to break through the intimidation."
Ryan declined to identify the Democrats with whom has discussed the issue.
Meanwhile, Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Jim McCrery, R-La., said Wednesday he is willing to promote Bush's plan to use payroll taxes to seed private retirement accounts, but he remains open to other funding ideas.
"I have not ruled out some other form of revenue to fund the accounts," McCrery said in an interview with CongressDaily. "Other people have different ideas about that, and I want to hear them as part of the hearing process."
McCrery said that during a meeting on Capitol Hill this week, National Economic Council Director Allan Hubbard and White House Social Security specialist Chuck Blahous had provided him with a "sound, rational basis" for using payroll taxes, arguing that if general revenues are used, "there's no limit to how much money we pour into Social Security."
Though impressed with the case made by Hubbard and Blahous for using payroll taxes, McCrery noted, "it's not something I would insist on until the very end if it meant not passing a bill." On the other hand, "going into the debate, it's a sound policy and we ought to pursue it," he said.
McCrery has previously indicated that such a "carve out" of payroll taxes for private accounts would be "a tough political hurdle."
McCrery noted, however, that he does not support "add-on" accounts as they are often described -- as an extra retirement savings vehicle tacked onto the Social Security system and funded with general revenues.
McCrery said any account funded by general revenues would have to be offset by a reduction in benefits paid from the trust fund, thus keeping the accounts "connected to Social Security."
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Wednesday sought to clarify that while Graham supports raising the cap on income subject to the payroll tax, he has also talked about lowering the 12.4 percent payroll tax rate. Graham has not specified a level to which the rate might be lowered, the spokesman said. By Keith Koffler
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