This story originally provided by The Charleston Gazette

February 24, 2005

Groups oppose Social Security changes

By John Heys
Staff writer

Six advocacy groups announced a campaign Wednesday against any plans to privatize Social Security, arguing the country must keep its promise to current and future retirees.

During an afternoon news conference at the Capitol, speakers acknowledged the long-term challenges facing the country’s largest entitlement, which pays out benefits to more than 400,000 West Virginians.

But they slammed the idea of diverting money from the program into private investment accounts, a plan endorsed by President Bush.

“It would do nothing to solve the long-term solvency,” said Frank Bellinetti, state director of AARP West Virginia. The group supports other steps to strengthen the program in the long term, including raising the cap on wages that are taxed to support the entitlement.

Bellinetti said AARP members in West Virginia have told the organization that shoring up Social Security should be the group’s top legislative priority this year.

Delegate Michael Caputo, D-Marion, said he planned to introduce a House resolution opposing any drastic changes to the entitlement’s benefits or funding, including privatized accounts. Caputo said Sen. Jon Hunter, D-Monongalia, would introduce a similar resolution in the Senate.

“The message is very clear,” Caputo said. “Keep your hands off Social Security and keep your promise to America.”

Wes Holden from Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s office read a letter of support for the groups’ efforts from the Democratic senator, who said Social Security was “under attack” from President Bush. Rockefeller said he would stand with the groups to oppose any proposals that would weaken the Social Security safety net.

The AFL-CIO will be asking federal lawmakers to sign a pledge to strengthen the entitlement, said Kenny Perdue, state president of the labor union. He said the group would take the pledge to Rep. Shelley Moore Capito’s office Friday.

A Republican, Capito has stopped short of endorsing or opposing the president’s call for personal investment accounts.

Gary Zuckett with the West Virginia Citizen Action Group said he hoped any lawmakers who are undecided on the issue “would see the light soon.”

Several speakers challenged the notion that Social Security is facing an immediate crisis.

Larry Beckett, president of the state chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, called Bush’s “crisis talk” an attempt to create a “specter of doom just like he did with weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.”

The entitlement will start paying out more in benefits than it takes in from payroll taxes in 2018 but will be able to pay out 100 percent of promised benefits until the 2040s, when it will have exhausted its surpluses, according to the Social Security’s trustees.