Institute for Policy Innovation Announces New 'Modern Social Security Prosperity Coalition'

1/21/2004

From: Sonia Hoffman of the Institute for Policy Innovation, 703-912-5742 or 202-213-037 (cell), or shoffman@ipi.org

WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 -- In his State of the Union Address, President Bush put Social Security personal accounts on the top shelf of the national agenda.

Thus, Bush should welcome the letter that arrives on his desk tomorrow, addressed from the new "Modern Social Security Prosperity Coalition" and endorsing a reform proposal authored by Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) Senior Research Fellow Peter Ferrara and published by the Institute for Policy Innovation.

Why? The plan was recently scored by Social Security's Chief Actuary and credited with achieving full solvency for Social Security without cutting benefits or raising taxes.

In the letter to the President, 25 major conservative leaders in urge the President to adopt a personal account reform plan along the lines of those outlined in the IPI-published plan. Those supporting the reform include Jack Kemp, Newt Ginrich, Bill Bennett, Dick Armey, Steve Moore, Grover Norquist, Charlie Jarvis, Star Parker, Lew Uhler, former Social Security Commissioner Dorcas Hardy, David Keene, Jim Martin, Robert Carleson, Richard Rahn, Kellyanne Conway, and Morton Blackwell, among others.

What the Social Security Administration is Saying About the Ferrara/IPI Plan:

-- It completely eliminates Social Security deficit, without cutting benefits or raising taxes.

-- It creates the largest tax cut in world history. (A 75 year-projection period shows the Social Security payroll tax reduced from 12.4 percent to 3.5 percent.)

-- It eliminates Social Security's unfunded liability.

Peter Ferrara is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) and Director of the Social Security Project for the Club for Growth. He has written extensively on Social Security for the past 20 years. Ferrara is available for interview.