Bush Talks Social Security, Unveils Few Details

Even without many details, the speech deepened the likelihood that Social Security and Medicare will emerge as two of the key points of debate between Bush and Gore this year. Speaking Monday at Beaver College in Ambler, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia, Gore described his differences with Bush as "the clearest and the starkest" alternatives offered in the history of Social Security.

Gore is arguing that the federal government, drawing on projected federal budget surpluses, can stabilize Social Security and Medicare for decades without making major changes to either program. Indeed, Gore says Washington can even afford to enlarge both programs with a new prescription-drug plan under Medicare and increased monthly payments for stay-at-home mothers and widows under Social Security.

Bush, by contrast, is arguing that both Social Security and Medicare will face unsustainable costs as baby boomers retire unless structural changes are made now. For each program, he's proposing basic reforms with the common goal of shifting power from government to individuals.

"There is a fundamental difference between my opponent and me," Bush said Monday. "He trusts only government to manage our retirement. I trust individual Americans."

In his own speech Monday, Gore fired back: "Today when Wall Street is booming I know that plan sounds appealing . . . but in reality the Bush Social Security privatization plan would weaken our economy and undermine the basic guarantee of a minimum decent retirement."

Bush's speech continued his effort to take the offensive on an issue that has usually placed Republicans on the defensive. Though Democrats have often rallied senior voters by accusing Republicans of planning to cut Social Security, Bush is aggressively accusing President Clinton and Gore of squandering opportunities to modernize the program before the baby boom retires.

Although Bush's speech was billed as a major policy statement, in fact it added no specific details to his existing statements on Social Security. As he has for months, Bush said he would seek bipartisan agreement to reform Social Security around six basic principles. These included:

* No change in the existing benefit system "for those now retired, or nearing retirement." Bush aides, though, refused to say at what age he would consider current workers "nearing retirement" and thus exempt from his proposed reforms.