Crossing the Rubicon

December 12, 1998

Over the next few days, we'll offer some observations on this week's White House conference on Social Security and its aftermath. Here are some thoughts from Michael Tanner, the director of Cato's Project on Social Security Privatization, on where Republicans in Congress ought to go from here:

"President Clinton has made it clear that he opposes raising taxes or cutting Social Security benefits. That leaves investment--either by the government or by individuals--as the only way to reform Social Security. This is a remarkable transformation in the nature of the Social Security debate. Mr. Clinton has crossed the Rubicon on the investment issue, and it's now up to Republicans to seize the opportunity to build on the president's initiative. They would be well advised to set aside the 'you first--no, you first' routine and declare that the White House has now shown it is sufficiently serious, and begin outlining the structure of an investment-based system. If they fail to do so, they'll be more vulnerable to the 'do-nothing Congress' label than ever before, and they'll deserve it."

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