Those who oppose President Bush’s push to revamp Social Security are staging events in advance of Bush’s appearance in Cedar Rapids to discuss the issue. Lisa Davis-Cook, co-director of the Iowa Citizens Action Network, spoke at a statehouse news conference. She says Bush’s Social Security plan is a bad deal for Americans. “It replaces security with insecurity by slashing the guaranteed benefits,” Davis-Cook says. A report issued today (Tuesday) by a Washington, D.C. group concluded the average 20-year-old Iowan who is paying into Social Security today will see his or her future benefits reduced by 152-thousand dollars under the Bush plan. Davis-Cook calls that “staggering and she says the private accounts Bush proposed will weaken the system. Lieutenant Governor Sally Pederson, a Democrat, also held a telephone conference call this (Tuesday) afternoon to join in the criticism of Social Security reform.Bush is scheduled to speak in Cedar Rapids early tomorrow afternoon. Nearly 550-thousand Iowans currently get Social Security benefits.
