Battle Over Background Briefings

How can a proposal that would ostensibly reduce spending for Social Security by about $3 trillion over 75 years not be a cut? In the absence of more explication from the White House -- on background or otherwise -- some liberal thinkers are deconstructing Bush's proposal. Here's Jason Furman of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and economist blogger Brad DeLong writing in Slate.

The Coverage

Richard W. Stevenson writes in the New York Times that "the White House signaled that Mr. Bush would be flexible if Congress had other ideas about how to close the projected long-term gap in Social Security's finances, reflecting the reluctance of many members of his own party on Capitol Hill to embrace any plan that could be portrayed as harming the middle class.

"In an indication of how deep that reluctance runs, Mississippi's two Republican senators both suggested after attending Mr. Bush's rally here that they were not yet prepared to embrace the details of the president's approach."

Michael A. Fletcher writes in The Washington Post: "Currently, about 2 million Social Security beneficiaries live in poverty, according to the White House. Here in Mississippi, nearly 20 percent of the population and 22 percent of senior citizens live below the federal poverty line, which is now just over $16,000 a year for a family of three."

Jackie Calmes, John D. McKinnon and Brody Mullins write in the Wall Street Journal: "President Bush's proposed Social Security overhaul now boasts two new assets it didn't have a week ago: A solvency plan as Democratic adversaries have demanded and an energized champion in the House with a track record for getting things done."

That's House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas they're writing about. But Heidi Przybyla writes for Bloomberg that Thomas "wants to rescue" Bush's Social Security plan "by loading on even more controversy.

"Thomas is considering a broader legislative package that includes new savings incentives and long-term health-care benefits. The plan, according to people who have discussed it with Thomas in recent days, could be financed by replacing at least part of the Social Security payroll tax with some form of consumption tax."

Foreign or Domestic?

In the morning gaggle, a reporter pointed out to Duffy: "The President has been at a BMW plant in South Carolina. Now he's going to a Nissan plant. He's never been, as far as I know, to GM or Ford. Is there any significance there?"

The White House later issued a statement saying: "The President has hosted domestic automakers on the South Lawn of the White House to promote his hydrogen car initiative, as well as other fuel-efficient vehicles."

Cheney in Georgia

After a few calls, the White House kindly obliged and posted the transcript of Vice President Cheney's Social Security talk in Smyrna, Ga., on Monday. (See yesterday's column for the coverage.)

It's a great read, because Cheney goes into more detail than Bush does -- and because unlike Bush he actually takes questions, albeit from a very friendly audience. (One questioner actually called him "Mr. President.")

Cheney speaks at some length about the proposal Bush endorsed, by lawyer and investment executive Robert C. Pozen (who Cheney mistakenly called an economist.)

"So Pozen's idea is . . . a sliding scale, in effect, at the bottom end -- folks at the lower end of the income levels who are going to be more dependent on Social Security than anybody else, would still get the same adjustment, that is, inflation plus the index to wages, in terms of computing their benefit. But at the upper end of the scale we would adjust only for inflation; there wouldn't be that extra kicker, that extra 1 percent over 30 or 40 years that gives you a significantly higher level of benefit. And then we'd have some sliding combination of both between the upper end and the lower end. . . . "

Here's a good question:

"Q Mr. Vice President, under the private accounts plan, where will the revenue come from to support the current beneficiaries of Social Security?

"THE VICE PRESIDENT: . . . One way to think about what we're trying to do here is to bring forward and pay now what is obligated to be paid later on, the funds that would be required, in effect, to set up the private accounts. In other words, we'd have the existing Social Security system out there cranking away as it is today, but we'd go ahead and borrow the money, in effect, to put into those accounts.

"But it's a debt we already owe. And you may think about it. It's like advancing the house payments on your mortgage, that you're going to bring it forward and pay it now instead of paying it later."

Except that you could also think about it as borrowing even more on your house when you're already massively in debt.

Cheney talked about the importance of finding a bipartisan solution. But the overwhelmingly Republican crowd picked up on his comment that "there are a number of members of Congress of the other faith who have said that we don't need to do anything."

"Q Mr. Vice President, thank you for coming to Georgia, and thank you and the President for your leadership in the war on terror. Millions of Americans appreciate that.

"My question is, I watched the press conference the other night with the President, and it seems like when the two of you come up with serious ideas that those from the other faith, in the other party, all they do is demonize and, in many cases, just lie and try to divide the older generation, our grandparents from us, those in our 30s.

"THE VICE PRESIDENT: I've noticed that. (Laughter.)

"Q And just from -- my question is, what are you going to do from a political nature to stop them from just lying and trying to divide us, and protect those of us who really are depending on you guys saving this and protecting this? It seems like their message to our generation is they just don't care if we get it or not. That's what I hear from those that are constantly criticizing, is they don't care about us. And what's your message to them?

"THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I do think -- I'm trying hard to be nonpartisan in my conduct. . . . "

Finally, Cheney was asked about possible changes to disability coverage, which Bush had previously ruled out.

"[W]e have not at this stage addressed the disability issues. That is, we haven't proposed any change in the disability programs at this point. It may well be that it needs to be addressed or looked at, and that's entirely possible. But what we're proposing so far doesn't relate to, or address those issues at all."

Today's Calendar

Bush holds a "roundtable on Strengthening Social Security" this morning at the 2005 Latino Small Business Economic Conference, then hosts a Cinco de Mayo dinner at the White House.

Luti in the White House

A White House announcement yesterday: "Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Stephen J. Hadley announced today, the appointment of William J. Luti as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Defense Policy and Strategy."

Blogger Laura Rozen writes: "In the continuing saga of the Bush administration's kicking up of its most controversial personnel, Bill Luti, the big boss of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans, has been promoted to a White House position."

Thomas E. Ricks profiled Luti in The Washington Post in 2003. He noted that critics described Luti "as a stealthy Svengali of Iraq policy, operating at the center of a network connecting Vice President Cheney, former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith -- all people for whom Luti has worked in the past seven years.

"The critics are especially suspicious of his Office of Special Plans, which was created last year. The purposely ambiguous title -- it was an office to work on policy for invading Iraq -- gave rise to speculation that Luti was running a shadowy intelligence operation intended to second-guess the CIA and provide the Pentagon with findings that supported its policies. The office has since been closed."

Luti himself, however, "insists that he is not as influential as some of his critics suspect. 'To paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumors of my power are greatly exaggerated,' he said."

More about Saturday Night

Rebecca Dana and Gabriel Sherman , writing in the New York Observer, have the exhaustive recounting I've seen yet of the parties before and after the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner on Saturday.

House Rules

Al Kamen writes in The Washington Post: "The U.S. delegation at Pope John Paul II 's funeral, headed by President Bush, dined one evening at Ambassador Mel Sembler 's residence. Word is that after the meal, Sembler produced a box of fine, but not Cuban, cigars.

"Sembler's wife, Betty, said no smoking in the house but the gentlemen could go out on the veranda.

"One member of the group said: 'But it's the president of the United States.'

"To which Betty Sembler replied: 'But it's my house.'

"Bush said he understood she had the better case and led the group out to the veranda."