But then again, we all know the President is above the law, right? But perhaps Bush didn't expect the employee's union to speak up.
Washington > Social Security Agency Is Enlisted to Push Its Own Revision" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/politics/16benefit.html?ei=5065&en=8fc5397cab02d3e0&ex=1106456400&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print&position=">The New York Times > Washington > Social Security Agency Is Enlisted to Push Its Own Revision
Agency employees have complained to Social Security officials that they are being conscripted into a political battle over the future of the program. They question the accuracy of recent statements by the agency, and they say that money from the Social Security trust fund should not be used for such advocacy.
Complete Article
Social Security Agency Is Enlisted to Push Its Own Revision
January 16, 2005
By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 - Over the objections of many of its
own employees, the Social Security Administration is
gearing up for a major effort to publicize the financial
problems of Social Security and to convince the public that
private accounts are needed as part of any solution.
The agency's plans are set forth in internal documents,
including a "tactical plan" for communications and
marketing of the idea that Social Security faces dire
financial problems requiring immediate action.
Social Security officials say the agency is carrying out
its mission to educate the public, including more than 47
million beneficiaries, and to support President Bush's
agenda.
"The system is broken, and promises are being made that
Social Security cannot keep," Mr. Bush said in his Saturday
radio address. He is expected to address the issue in his
Inaugural Address.
But agency employees have complained to Social Security
officials that they are being conscripted into a political
battle over the future of the program. They question the
accuracy of recent statements by the agency, and they say
that money from the Social Security trust fund should not
be used for such advocacy.
"Trust fund dollars should not be used to promote a
political agenda," said Dana C. Duggins, a vice president
of the Social Security Council of the American Federation
of Government Employees, which represents more than 50,000
of the agency's 64,000 workers and has opposed private
accounts.
Deborah C. Fredericksen of Minneapolis, who has worked for
the Social Security Administration for 31 years, said,
"Many employees believe that the president and this agency
are using scare tactics to promote private accounts."
Social Security trustees say the program's financial
problems will grow as baby boomers retire. The program will
pay out more in benefits than it collects in revenue in
2018, they say. By 2042, they say, the trust fund will be
exhausted, and tax income will be sufficient to pay only 73
percent of scheduled benefits.
In campaign-style speeches, Mr. Bush and other officials
have said that Social Security is headed for bankruptcy,
and that workers should be allowed to divert some of their
payroll taxes into private accounts, as a way to build
wealth for themselves and their heirs.
Such comments have prompted inquiries from the public to
Social Security offices. Agency managers said they expected
a torrent of calls after Mr. Bush's Inaugural Address on
Thursday and his State of the Union speech two weeks later.
Mark R. Lassiter, a spokesman for the Social Security
Administration, said he could not discuss the agency's
communications plans because they were "internal
documents." The agency, he said, has a duty "to educate the
public about the financial challenges facing Social
Security," but has not prepared a script for employees to
use in answering questions from the public.
The Bush administration ran afoul of a ban on "covert
propaganda" when it used tax money to promote the new
Medicare drug benefit and to publicize the dangers of drug
abuse by young people. The administration acknowledged
paying a conservative commentator, Armstrong Williams, to
promote its No Child Left Behind education policy. But on
Social Security, unlike those issues, the government has
not concealed its role.
The agency's strategic communications plan says the
following message is to be disseminated to "all audiences"
through speeches, seminars, public events, radio,
television and newspapers: "Social Security's long-term
financing problems are serious and need to be addressed
soon," or else the program may not "be there for future
generations."
The plan says that Social Security managers should "discuss
solvency issues at staff meetings," "insert solvency
messages in all Social Security publications" and spread
the word at nontraditional sites like farmers' markets and
"big box retail stores."
Also, the document says, agency managers should observe and
measure how much their employees know about the solvency of
the program.
Mr. Bush has created a sense of urgency by declaring that
"the crisis is now."
A slide show, presented to various audiences by James B.
Lockhart III, deputy commissioner of Social Security, says
that "benefit cuts would be drastic" after 2042 if the
Social Security law and payroll tax rates continue
unchanged.
A policy brief prepared by the agency says those benefit
cuts "would double the poverty rate of Social Security
beneficiaries aged 64 to 78," increasing the number of
indigent people in that age bracket to 1.8 million, from
875,000.
Witold R. Skwierczynski, president of the Social Security
Council of the federation of government employees, said:
"Some of the information being imparted by agency officials
is not factual, not accurate. There is no immediate
crisis."
In interviews, other Social Security employees expressed
similar views. But council members were more willing to
allow use of their names because a federal law generally
protects them against "penalty or reprisal" when they speak
publicly or testify before Congress.
Social Security employees denied that their concerns were
motivated by a bureaucratic mentality, a fear of change or
a desire to protect their jobs.
"There's a lot more to it than that," said Colleen M.
Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union,
which represents lawyers and paralegals at the Social
Security Administration. "There's a genuine concern about
how people will live when they retire, a real fear that
Social Security benefits could be eroded by private
accounts."
The official policy brief, analyzing the consequences of
inaction, was written by Andrew G. Biggs, the associate
commissioner of Social Security for retirement policy. Mr.
Biggs, 37, joined President Bush in making the case for
private accounts at a White House forum this week.
When he was an analyst at the Cato Institute, Mr. Biggs
championed private accounts, saying they "would pay
substantially higher retirement benefits than the current
Social Security program" because some payroll taxes could
be invested in stocks and corporate bonds rather than in
government securities.
In 2003, just before he became associate commissioner, Mr.
Biggs said that AARP, the lobby for older Americans, was
"spreading disinformation" about the risks of private
accounts. Mr. Biggs, who has a doctorate from the London
School of Economics, said critics were wrong to suggest
that personal accounts meant large cuts in benefits. In
fact, he said, Social Security cannot pay the benefits it
has promised.
The combination of benefits from traditional Social
Security and a private account would substantially exceed
what the current program can actually pay, Mr. Biggs said.
Other analysts, including the Congressional Budget Office,
have reached a different conclusion. They say the
combination of benefits from the trust fund and individual
accounts is likely to be less than actual benefits under
the current system.
In a document sent each year to millions of workers, the
government emphasizes the looming financial problems. The
document shows a worker's earnings history and estimated
future benefits. But it says the scheduled benefits could
be cut because "without changes, by 2042 the Social
Security trust fund will be exhausted."
Agency employees raised their concerns with Reginald F.
Wells, a deputy commissioner of Social Security, and two
associate commissioners, David L. Feder and Roger
McDonnell. Mr. McDonnell confirmed that employee
representatives had shared their concerns with him, but he
declined to say how he replied.
Robert M. Ball, who worked at the Social Security
Administration for three decades and was commissioner under
Democratic and Republican presidents from 1962 to 1973,
said: "It's fine for the agency to answer factual
questions, but it's unusual to use the Civil Service
organization to push a political agenda, especially because
what they're saying is not true. The program is not going
bankrupt."
When asked about the outlook for Social Security, several
agency officials pointed to a White House "fact sheet" that
says, "By 2042, when workers in their mid-20's begin to
retire, the system will be bankrupt - unless we act now to
save it."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/politics/16benefit.html?ex=1106925202&ei=1&en=6f96703b87c1b6c1
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