Clinton Teleconference Puts Focus on Social Security

WASHINGTON — President Clinton drove forward Saturday with his campaign to make saving Social Security one of the nation’s key political issues, devoting both his weekly radio address and a special appearance in a 10-city teleconference to the “challenge” of keeping the retirement program solvent for the next century.

“If we act soon and responsibly, we can strengthen Social Security in ways that will not unfairly burden any generation--retirees, the baby boomers, their children or their children’s children,” the president said in his morning radio speech.

Two hours later, Clinton listened intently as groups of 100 citizens in studios from Boston to San Francisco talked about their fears and hopes for the future of Social Security.

“Listen to us, show us that you listen,” chanted members of the audience in Tallahassee, Fla. From San Francisco, Rhonda Johnson, 29, said, “We need confidence to be sure the money will be there in the long run.”

The president wants to make a bipartisan solution to Social Security’s problems one of the highlights of his second term. He is encouraging and promoting a year of debate, leading to a White House conference in December, and culminating in negotiations next year with congressional leaders to prepare legislation.

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“So I challenge my generation to act now, to protect our children and ensure that Social Security will be there for them after a lifetime of hard work,” he said in the radio speech. “I challenge young people to do their part, get involved in this national effort to strengthen Social Security for the 21st century,” he said.

The aging of the baby boom generation--those 76 million Americans born in the years 1946 through 1964--will put a squeeze on Social Security’s ability to deliver retirement, disability and survivor benefits. By 2029, when all of the boomers will have become eligible for monthly checks, the “Social Security trust fund will be depleted . . . and payroll contributions will only cover 75% of benefits,” Clinton said.

The president and members of Congress hope they can take steps in 1999 to strengthen the system and avert drastic tax increases or major benefit cuts in the future. The list of potential solutions--all controversial--that will be debated this year includes:

* Increasing the retirement age.

* Expanding the amount of wages subject to payroll taxes.

* Making more of the retirement benefits taxable.

* Trimming the annual cost-of-living allowance given to the 43 million Social Security beneficiaries.

* Bringing several million more state and local government employees into the Social Security system.

* Permitting citizens to switch some of their payroll taxes into personal investment accounts.

Social Security has been a delicate political issue, with elected officials worried about the response from voters who feel protective about the biggest federal program.

Acknowledging the political peril, Clinton told participants in the 10-city hookup, “I think it’s worse dynamite to walk away from the problem.” But saving Social Security is not sufficient to assure a comfortable life after work, he reminded them. “No matter what we do, Americans should be saving for their own retirement.”

Clinton spoke from Washington, where his words were carried through a satellite system to audiences in Albuquerque; Boise, Idaho; Boston; Denver; Detroit; Lexington, Ky.; Minneapolis-St. Paul; San Francisco; Tallahassee; and Winston-Salem, N.C.

The four-hour video conference allowed participants to hear the president and direct questions to him, Social Security Commissioner Kenneth Apfel in Washington and citizens in the other cities.

In each location, a group of about 100 persons discussed Social Security for two hours Friday evening, and again for four hours Saturday. They were selected to be a representative sample of the population by age, sex and ethnic group.

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“I’m with the generation that has enjoyed Social Security from its inception. For me it’s been a haven . . . it must go on,” said an 83-year-old woman in Boston. A worried younger worker in Detroit said, “We’re on the bottom of the pyramid,” feeling frustrated and disenchanted about the likelihood of collecting benefits.

Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.), who attended the meeting in Detroit, said he wants to “let working families invest [some of the payroll taxes] themselves.”

The high-tech meeting also was carried on the Internet, with live sound and pictures, a chat room and e-mail.

The 10-city event was the beginning of a two-year program by Americans Discuss Social Security, a nonpartisan organization promoting public discussion of Social Security’s future. ADSS is funded by a $12.5-million grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts. It plans meetings and forums in all 50 states to promote citizen participation in the Social Security debate.

Cable television systems with an estimated 12 million households planned to carry Saturday’s program, either live or on tape.

President Clinton also will participate in a series of four special Social Security events planned for later this year by the Concord Coalition and the American Assn. of Retired Persons.

Delivering the Republican response to the president’s radio address, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) said his party is “proud” to take up Clinton’s challenge to save Social Security. However, Republicans are staunchly opposed to the president’s plan to allow persons as young as 55 to buy into the Medicare program, he said. Medicare is now restricted to those over 65 and the disabled of all ages.

Medicare’s hospital trust fund is expected to run short of funds in about a decade, just three years before the first of the baby boomers becomes eligible.