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    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
    February 2, 2005

    CONTACT:
     Pamela Causey 202-216-8378/202-236-2123
    Ouida Williams 202-216-8405

    ~ 4 Million Seniors ~ One Voice ~No Privatization ~

    “The State of the Union address has made it clear that the President simply won't give up on a bad idea. Once again, he has blurred the lines between addressing Social Security's solvency and his plan to privatize our nation's most successful family insurance and retirement program.”
    - -  Barbara B. Kennelly, President and CEO

    FORMER CONGRESSWOMAN AND LEADER OF NATIONAL SENIORS' ADVOCACY GROUP RESPONDS TO STATE OF THE UNION MESSAGE ON SOCIAL SECURITY

    The President is creating a national distraction, using details about private accounts to divert attention from the huge benefit cuts and the multi-trillion-dollar costs of privatizing Social Security.

    The President gives glimpses of how he envisions his private accounts working without answering two critical questions his proposal raises:  how deep will the benefit cuts be, and where will the money to privatize come from?   Until these issues are addressed, the design of the private accounts is simple window dressing.

    Young people are the primary targets of the Administration's full-court public relations push.  Yet they have the most to lose from private accounts because the trillions of dollars of additional borrowing needed to pay for the accounts will be their burden for generations. 

    If the President truly wants to protect Social Security for both today's retirees and tomorrow's workers, he should eliminate his privatization plans and work instead with Congress to ensure all Americans receive the guaranteed benefits they have earned and paid for throughout their working lives. 

    Privatization is not a plan to save Social Security; it is a plan to dismantle Social Security, and no amount of tinkering with the details can change that fundamental flaw. 

    The National Committee, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization acts in the interests of its membership through advocacy, education, services, grassroots efforts and the leadership of the Board of Directors and professional staff. The work of the National Committee is directed toward developing better-informed citizens and voters.