THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 25, 1994 TAG: 9410250324
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DWAYNE YANCEY, LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: ROANOKE LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Oliver L. North opened a potentially volatile new front in his Senate campaign on Monday, suggesting that Social Security be made voluntary for future generations.
Today's workers ``probably (are) not going to get that option, but kids who are yet to pay in ought to have that option,'' North said during a stop at a Roanoke area nursing home.
He predicted that if Social Security were made voluntary, ``I think you'd find a lot of people opting out of it. That's why you're probably going to have a phase-in period on it.''
The Republican U.S. Senate candidate stressed that he's not proposing any changes that would affect current Social Security recipients. ``We don't go after those who are vested in it,'' he said.
And he proposed that younger people who have already paid into Social Security should ``at least . . . get back what they've paid in.''
But North said he's willing to make Social Security voluntary for ``the next generation,'' which hasn't yet started to pay into the system.
With the baby-boom generation nearing retirement age, North suggested that something needs to be done to reduce the number of Social Security recipients.
``We've got 62 million Americans on the wagon that 91 million American households are pulling. We've got to find ways to get people off the wagon. Otherwise, nobody's going to be able to pull it,'' he said.
However, the proposals North floated have more to do with reducing the number of people paying into the system than with cutting the number of beneficiaries.
Aides later offered a clarification, saying North simply believes ``everything ought to be on the table'' when it comes to discussing the long-term future of Social Security.
Campaign spokesman Dan McLagan stressed that North is committed to making sure people already paying Social Security taxes get the benefits they're entitled to. He also said North would withdraw his idea for making the system voluntary for that ``next generation'' if it meant there wouldn't be enough Social Security taxes to pay for the people who stay in. ``If by them opting out (it) would collapse the system, then they can't opt out,'' McLagan said.
He described North's comments on making Social Security voluntary as ``not a major policy pronouncement'' and something that, even if enacted, would be ``long-term.''
But spokesmen for Democratic incumbent Sen. Charles S. Robb and independent J. Marshall Coleman quickly pounced on North's comments, citing them as evidence that North doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.
Robb spokesman Bert Rohrer called it ``an extreme measure that would undermine the integrity of a system that already faces funding shortages in the next century.''
Coleman spokesman Anson Franklin said it's another example of North ``talking first and thinking second, like he did on the Confederate flag.''
Franklin pointed out that Social Security isn't like a bank account, where people take out the money they've paid in. Instead, younger people pay taxes that go to support older people. If those younger people opt out of the system, Franklin asked, what happens to the retirees?
``North has a choice between abandoning them or raising taxes to make up the difference,'' he said.
KEYWORDS: CANDIDATE U.S. SENATE RACE SOCIAL SECURITY
by CNB