Democrat Iowa Senator Tom Harkin is slamming President Bush’s Social Security road tour as having a “flat tire” and Harkin is launching a tour of his own. Harkin says the President’s “carefully-screened audience,” like at last week’s Bush appearance in Cedar Rapids, isn’t the “real world” where Harkin says most people oppose the proposal to privatize Social Security. Harkin says “Starting on Tuesday, my mobile Senate office will kick off a tour of all 99 counties in Iowa. I’ll be on hand for as many days as I can spare, and I’ll be listening to what Iowans have to say about Social Security.” He says he wants to work with the president to strengthen Social Security, but he wants to “do it right.” Harkin says he’d like to see a replay of what happened in 1983 when Republican President Reagan worked with Democrats in Congress to make tough choices to keep Social Security “rock solid” and that bipartisan effort is needed again. Harkin says the audiences at his Iowa events won’t be hand-picked, but they’ll be made up of anyone who wants to attend and sound off. Harkin says Bush’s privatization plan will destroy Social Security and will badly damage our nation’s economy. “Transition costs to private accounts will be five-trillion dollars over the first 20 years, almost all of which we’d have to borrow from China, Japan and other foreign countries. Most Iowans I talk to think that’s really irresponsible.”
