WP: GOP Lawmakers Acknowledge Uphill Fight on Social Security

[Pirate Smile]

GOP Lawmakers Acknowledge Uphill Fight on Social Security
Backers of Bush Plan Cite Public Awareness of System's Woes

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 30, 2005; Page A04

President Bush's congressional allies on Social Security are limping into the week-long Memorial Day recess, battered by public opinion polls yet hopeful that a rising awareness of Social Security's long-run financing problems will propel a legislative solution.

But with just 49 legislative days left before Congress's planned adjournment, the odds are still against Bush securing the centerpiece of his domestic agenda, Republican lawmakers concede.

"I don't know if we can get it done this year," said Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr. (R-Fla.), a member of the Ways and Means Committee. "I don't think you could get a third of the Congress to vote for any one plan at this point."

-snip-
Social Security was supposed to be the focal point of the Bush domestic agenda this year, but passage of a plan to secure its long-term financing and add private investment accounts has grown more complicated in recent weeks as Republicans appear increasingly willing to challenge the White House on issues including expanded stem cell research and the reimportation of prescription drugs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/29/AR2005052900889.html