Blunt: "In terms of social security, even when President Bush wanted to privatize the accounts, I said, look, I was reported saying this. I said, 'if you want to get out there and start talking about this, we're going to watch real carefully, and we're going to let you lead this fight because I'm not sure this system will work", and it would not have worked as well as we had hoped it would. I never supported it. I had lots of hearings on this around the district to see what people." Get the facts: Blunt: It Might Have Been Better If We Switched To Private Social Security Accounts Decades Ago. During a 2004 CNN interview, Blunt argued that the U.S. should have switched to private Social Security accounts decades before. "[The private Social Security accounts proposal] is a transition for younger workers. It might have been better if we had done it quicker, like a decade, decades ago, but we didn't. If we do this transition, we will never have a baby boomer problem again, because every group is doing more to take care of its own retirement, rather than just take care of the retirement of how ever many people happen to be retired at that time." [CNN, 11/10/04] Duties As Majority Whip Included Helping President Sell His Plan to Congress: As reported by Gannett in 2005, "One of Blunt's duties as House majority whip is to help the president sell his plan to add individual investment accounts to Social Security. Blunt said the Social Security debate 'is about math and whether this system continues to work based on the demographics of the country.'" [Gannett, 3/19/05] Blunt Supported Personal Social Security Retirement Accounts For Young Workers. In 2005, Rep. Roy Blunt backed President Bush's social security plan, supporting personal retirement accounts that offered workers the choice to pursue a higher rate of return on their social security contributions. As reported by the Springfield News-Leader, "Blunt favors personal accounts that would allow workers to invest up to 4 percent of their salary in a diversified, low-cost mutual fund of stocks and bonds. The amount invested would be a portion of the 12.8 percent payroll tax already deducted from every worker's paycheck for Social Security, he said. Essentially, Blunt explained, the accounts give those who pay into the system a choice to pursue a higher rate of return than the current 1.8 percent." [Springfield News-Leader, 3/30/05] Congressman Blunt Supported A Risky Scheme to Privatize Social Security. As a member of the Congressional leadership, Congressman Blunt actively lobbied his colleagues to support a risky scheme to divert revenues from Social Security and into private accounts on the stock market. [Gannett, 3/19/05] Blunt Touted "Our Strongest Selling Point" for Private Accounts. In a 2005 interview with Washington Post columnist David Broder, then-Majority Whip Roy Blunt said that the private social security accounts would be controlled by the individual, including additional money generated beyond basic annuity. "The idea that these accounts will be yours to control is our strongest selling point. I've told Al Hubbard (the president's new economics guru) that anything we can do to strengthen the idea of ownership, we should do," said Blunt. "Once people have saved enough to pay for a decent annuity, we ought to free up the money (in the individual accounts) for whatever they want to do." [Washington Post, 2/20/05] Blunt: Bush Social Security Reform Will Give Sense They Are "Stockholders in America" . In a 2005 interview with Washington Post columnist David Broder, Rep. Roy Blunt said both retirees and young workers should be pleased with President Bush's social security plan. "Blunt said that over time, Bush's social security plan will give more people the sense that they are 'stockholders in America.'" [Washington Post, 2/20/05]

• published: 15 Oct 2010
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