GOP leaders weigh new Social Security plan(without personal accounts) [View All]

[Algorem]

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/washington/index.ssf?/base/politics-5/1112911022119850.xml&storylist=washington
4/7/2005, 6:01 p.m. ET
By DAVID ESPO
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leaders are considering whether to seek Democratic support for Social Security legislation without the personal accounts sought by President Bush, aiming to restore them later, officials said Thursday.

Any such move would mark a tactical shift and could anger the White House, which is in the midst of an intensive 60-day campaign to sell Bush's approach to the public.

The internal discussions among top Senate Republicans come at a time when the drive to overhaul Social Security — the centerpiece of Bush's agenda — appears stalled. Democrats routinely attack his proposed accounts as privatization, and adamantly resist the idea of including them in any legislation designed to shore up the program's finances.

With public opinion polls showing modest support at best for Bush's plan, Republicans have yet to coalesce behind a proposal of their own...