Though two prominent Republicans have offered ideas for privatizing Social Security, the official GOP line in 2010 won’t include that plan.
After Rep. Jeb Hensarling talked about wanting to privatize Social Security last night on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” TPMDC checked in with Republican aides on Capitol Hill.
Most of the GOP aides were reluctant to even entertain the question of whether Republicans will formally campaign on the idea, suggesting that it’s a political third rail they would rather avoid. Indeed, the Democrats already jumped on Hensarling’s remarks to suggest the GOP is “dusting off the old playbook.”
A spokesman for the conservative Republican Study Committee said the GOP this year will talk about the nation’s “serious fiscal challenges.”
The spokesman added: “In terms of policy, however, the RSC budget alternative did not make any changes to Social Security, and I imagine that will be the same for this year.”
Rep. Paul Ryan, (R-WI) the ranking Republican on the budget committee, recently detailed the Republican plan for Social Security that preserves the existing program for those 55 or older. For younger people the plan “offers the option of investing over one-third of their current Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts, similar to the Thrift Savings Plan available to federal employees.”
It also includes a “gradual, modest increase in the retirement age,” Ryan wrote in the Wall Street Journal.
A spokesman for the conservative Club for Growth told me today the group agrees with Hensarling.
“You can’t even talk seriously about the debt, deficit, or a balanced budget without fundamentally reforming entitlement programs,” Mike Connolly said. “Under a social security system strengthened with personal accounts, future seniors will realize much larger balances than they would under the current system.”
He added, “Every candidate will have to decide for himself what issues to campaign on this year, but if Republicans want to show the American people they can be trusted with leadership again, attacking the Democrats isn’t enough. The times cry out for a bold agenda of conservative economic reform, and for politicians like Jeb Hensarling who can articulate one.”
The Democratic talking points go after Ryan and Hensarling as pitching ideas that “have been rejected by the American people.”
“This is the Republican version of the movie ‘Groundhog Day,’ but instead of waking up to the same day over and over, Americans are waking up to the same radical proposals from the GOP,” Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) said in response to Ryan and Hensarling.
