Is Fainthearted Faction member Rep. Gene Taylor going to follow Rep. Adam Smith out of the Faction?
I exchanged emails today with a staffer in Rep. Taylor’s office. And that’s the impression I got.
First, the staffer told me that for Taylor, a vote against the Filner Amendment was not a vote for privatization.
“Mr. Taylor does believe that the annual Social Security surpluses should be invested in real assets rather than Treasury IOUs that enable more deficit spending,” the staffer told me, “but he does not support investment in the stock market. In fact, he was one of only two Democrats who voted against the Railroad Retirement reform bill that passed on July 31, 2001, because he did not buy the argument that the system could reduce the amounts paid in by the railroads and increase the fund assets by investing in the stock market.”
(I have to confess that I was immediately out of my league when we got to talking about the Railroad Retirement reform bill. But let’s just keep that between you and me.)
Apparently Rep. Taylor is overseas this week on Armed Service Committee business. But the staffer told me that Taylor’s office would likely be posting a statement on their website about the president’s Social Security phase-out plan in the near future.
