Nelson criticizes Bush plan to privatize social security [View All]

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Sen. Bill Nelson criticized President Bush's plan for privatizing Social Security and said he and other lawmakers were working to develop "a more moderate and sensible plan."

Nelson said Bush's plan would either cut benefits for retired Americans or require borrowing as much as $2 trillion, which he said would force greater dependence on foreign creditors. And he said the plan to establish private investment accounts would threaten the program's stability.

"By linking benefits to a volatile stock market, privatization shifts the risk to seniors and weakens Social Security's guaranteed safety net. In the wake of recent cases of corporate laundering, we all know too well the dangers of relying on stocks for retirement," Nelson told a crowd of more than 300 at a luncheon Monday for the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches.

Bush has made Social Security a top priority of his domestic legislative agenda for the year, and is expected to make it a focus of his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress and a nationally televised audience on Wednesday night.

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