Private accounts are not coming off the table

"Congressman, I am the president. And private accounts are not coming off the table even if it's the last day I spend in the presidency."

With the above statement to Representative Charles B. Rangel, George W. Bush made it clear to the world that he had no intention of fixing Social Security only in destroying it. This is the back drop as The Senate Finance Committee began the first day of it's full-scale debate on reform.

The Senate Finance Committee's first full-scale debate on Social Security raised new doubt Tuesday about whether a majority of the committee would vote for President Bush's proposal for individual investment accounts.

All the Democrats on the panel who spoke said they were resolutely opposed to the president's plan. And the reservations of Republicans were more ominous for the White House.

As a last resort, some administration officials have said, they might be able to keep their plan alive by pushing a private accounts bill through the Finance Committee on a party-line vote rather than in a bipartisan manner. But at the hearing, one Republican, Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, said she did not want to tamper with "the foundation for our seniors," and another, Senator Craig Thomas of Wyoming, expressed concern over the amount of borrowing that proposals like the president's would require.

The purpose of the hearing was to allow the committee to begin addressing the solvency issue, something Bush has yet to do.

In an interview on CNN after the Finance Committee hearing, Mr. Grassley suggested a realization that a majority on the panel might not vote for private accounts. If that proves to be the case, he said, he would still like to move ahead with a bill dealing with solvency in the system and send that to the Senate.

Democrats, however, said they would try to block any Social Security bill unless Mr. Bush personally promised that investment accounts would not become part of the legislation at a later stage.

Administration hubris is now threatening the party on two fronts, Social Security and judicial appointments. As the popularity of "Private Accounts" continues to fall the administration and Senator Grassley do not have the votes in the Senate. It would also appear the administration and Senator Frist do not have the votes to end the filibuster on judicial appointments. The reason is politicians must pay attention to public opinion to survive and the public is not on the Rebublican's side.