White House Says Bush Still Backs Benefit Plan
WASHINGTON, D.C.
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The White House stood firmly behind President Bush’s plan for workers to divert some of their Social Security payroll taxes into the stock market, despite the dramatic drops Wall Street has suffered in recent months.
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer took a swing at the existing Social Security program, calling it “dangerous” to “let people pay a lifetime of high taxes for a Social Security benefit that under current projections they’ll never receive.”
Fleischer made clear that Bush continues to favor permitting Americans to take a portion of the taxes they ordinarily contribute to the Social Security trust fund and invest it on their own. “That would include markets,” Fleischer said.
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