Social Security central to State of the Union

[papau]

9 p.m. - run for 40 minutes.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-02-01-speech_x.htm

Social Security central to State of the Union
By Richard Benedetto, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Buoyed by the apparent success of elections in Iraq on Sunday, President Bush goes into his annual State of the Union address Wednesday intending to use the momentum for a strong push on Social Security.
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Bush will press his case for acting this year on Social Security. He will warn that to wait until the system falls into the red could trigger large tax increases or sharp benefit cuts to keep the system solvent. He will supply more details of his proposal, particularly on how younger workers could establish private investment accounts that Bush says would yield more money than the benefits guaranteed now.

He will stop short of a legislative blueprint and will say that although he intends to lead on the issue, he is willing to work with Democrats and Republicans in Congress.<snip>

"We can solve this long-term challenge without dismantling Social Security and without allowing this administration's false declaration of a crisis to justify a privatization plan that is unnecessary, unaffordable and unwise," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said Monday. <snip>

He will repeat his pledge to cut the federal budget deficit in half by 2008 and will propose that spending on things other than defense and homeland security be limited to an increase less than 1%. That means some domestic programs would be reduced or eliminated.

He will repeat a controversial call for immigration reform that would establish a guest-worker program for legal immigrants. He'll talk about creating temporary-worker status for some of the millions who are in the country illegally.<snip>