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Thompson’s plan spooks GOP backers
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Oct 17, 2007 08:20pm |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Friday, October 19, 2007 02:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | By Alexander Bolton
October 18, 2007
Congressional supporters of Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) are splitting with him over his proposal to curb the cost of Social Security by cutting projected benefits by as much as 25 percent over the next 33 years, according to the estimate of one conservative think tank.
The presidential candidate broached his proposal for limiting the cost of Social Security at a GOP presidential debate in Dearborn, Mich., earlier this month. Thompson reiterated his support for pegging benefits to inflation instead of wage growth, a policy that would create substantial savings because the price of goods and services grows more slowly than wages.
At a speech Wednesday before the anti-tax group Club for Growth, Thompson called “indexing benefits to inflation instead of wages” a “common sense” idea and a “step in the right direction.”
Michael Tanner, the director of health and welfare studies at the Cato Institute, a fiscally conservative think tank, said that pegging Social Security benefits to inflation would preserve the program’s solvency. He also said it could lead to a dramatic cut in benefits.
“It’s substantial,” he said. “It’s about a 25-percent benefit cut by 2040. That by itself would restore Social Security to solvency.” |
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