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Social Security Turns 70

Lawmakers and interest groups are gearing up for a fight this fall over Social Security, each side hoping to use the retirement and disability program's 70th birthday to build momentum.

President Bush and House Republicans have yet to build a groundswell for shifting a portion of Social Security payroll taxes to individual accounts for younger workers. Whatever returns these investment accounts earn would supplement future benefits.

Mr. Bush's proposal for addressing a looming insolvency in the government retirement program by trimming future benefits for high and middle-income earners also has yet to get traction.

Interest groups and lawmakers on all sides are using the program's 70th anniversary Sunday as an occasion to kickstart a debate begun last winter when Mr. Bush made Social Security the centerpiece of his State of the Union address. That debate had faded by summer, but House Republicans still hope to vote on some version of the revisions this fall.

Read entire article at CBS