Republicans rally for passage of Social Security reforms

Republican party officials around the country — and in Iowa — are staging events today to pressure democrat members of the U.S. Senate to take up the Social Security reforms their republican president is proposing. Amy Houston Miller, a 28-year-old Republican attorney from Des Moines, spoke at the Iowa capitol. “I respect and appreciate President Bush’s willingness to confront Social Security’s financial and fairness problems,” Houston Miller said. “The system is broken and we do need to fix it.” Houston Miller says Harkin would be “short-sighted” and “terribly unfair” to her generation if he does not support what she called “meaningful reform.” State Representative Steven Lukan, a republican from New Vienna, says while today’s effort was organized by republicans, he expects some democrats to sign the G-O-P petition drive that supports the President’s Social Security reforms. “I don’t really see this, I guess, as republicans ganging up on Senator Harkin,” Lukan says. “I think that this is a way for (Harkin) to understand…that it’s an issue for younger Iowans and younger Americans.” Lukan, who is 26 years old, is the youngest member of the Iowa House.