Quote of note:

Overall, the votes appeared to signal an eagerness by both parties to attack each other over Social Security rather than take specific, politically risky steps to shore it up.

Social Security votes send mixed message
Party-line moves slow progress on program overhaul

By Alan Fram, Associated Press  |  March 16, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The Senate voiced its support yesterday for both a conciliatory and a sharply partisan approach to buttressing Social Security, symbolic votes that left questions about exactly how or when lawmakers will address the program's problems.

In a series of votes on President Bush's effort to overhaul the pension system, senators first voted, 100 to 0, for nonbinding language by Senator Lindsey O. Graham, Republican of South Carolina, saying strengthening Social Security is "a vital national priority."

Graham, who has sought bipartisan compromise on the issue, pointedly avoided the term "crisis," which Bush has used to objections by Democrats.

The provision also said lawmakers "should work together at the earliest opportunity to enact legislation to achieve a solvent and permanently sustainable Social Security system." It omitted details of how the program would be reshaped.

In the mostly party-line votes that followed, the Republican-controlled Senate rejected a Democratic plan that would make it harder for Congress to approve future tax cuts or spending increases until Social Security's long-term solvency is assured.

It also defeated another Democratic proposal stating opposition to any overhaul of the program involving deep benefit cuts or a big debt increase.

Yet in a mostly party-line 56-to-43 vote, senators approved a similar provision by Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, warning that failure to act would cause "massive debt, deep benefit cuts, and tax increases."