Moynihan Offers Plan To Save Social Security

Moynihan

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, March 15) -- Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan is calling for sweeping changes to save the embattled Social Security system.

As part of a bill expected to be introduced this week, the New York Democrat is proposing a reduction in payroll taxes. He also wants to trim cost-of-living adjustments for benefits, and advocates that workers set up personal savings accounts toward their retirements. Moynihan also believes normal retirement age should be increased beyond already-established changes.

Under the senator's proposals, workers could divert up to 15 percent of their payroll taxes into personal savings accounts.

"With this investment provision, workers can build up estates," Moynihan told The New York Times. "The fellow who worked at Bethlehem Steel for 40 years would not just have a pension, an annuity, but could leave substantial amounts of money to his children. That's kind of a new America. It responds to the energy that the 'privatizers' have had, without losing your basic annuity."

Moynihan's proposals are expected to add fuel to the already-simmering debate over the future of Social Security. Conservative Republicans on Capitol Hill have been pushing for Social Security taxes to be invested on Wall Street, possibly through personal accounts.

Moynihan is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee and is respected by political foes and allies alike for his grasp of social policy. In the early 1980s, he was part of a bipartisan commission that kept Social Security from going bankrupt.

Sunday March 15, 1998

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• Moynihan Offers Plan To Save Social Security
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