Even Katherine "Cruella" Harris not buying Bush Social Security Yet

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aznYAcHY7TO8&refer=us

President George W. Bush argues that his election to a second term gave him a popular mandate to undertake the most radical transformation of Social Security in the 69-year history of the program.

Some of his staunchest allies on Capitol Hill aren't so sure, especially since they publicly campaigned against changing the retirement system.

Republican House members such as Katherine Harris of Florida, Candice Miller of Michigan and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia have expressed reservations about Bush's proposal to partially privatize Social Security by establishing personal investment accounts.

``I'm not sure I've heard a solution I've agreed with,'' said Harris, who as Florida's secretary of state played a central role in the vote-counting dispute in 2000 with her interpretation of the state's election laws. Harris, who was elected to the House in 2002, said last year she opposed creating the private accounts unless future benefits are guaranteed.

Opposition to the private accounts within his party may be a powerful obstacle to Bush's paramount domestic priority because Democrats are unlikely to step forward to help him push a plan through Congress, said Eric Uslaner, professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland. ``He loses a handful of Republicans and he's dead,'' said Uslaner, author of the 1993 book, ``The Decline of Comity in Congress.''