President Clinton, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and other administration officials met today with a group of about a dozen leading House and Senate Democrats to discuss methods for jump starting the Social Security reform process and to talk about Medicare, the budget, and the president's growing list of fiscal 1999 initiatives.
Among those in the congressional delegation were House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., Minority Whip David Bonior, D-Mich., Democratic Caucus Chairman Vic Fazio of California, and Senate Budget ranking member Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J. Gephardt said the meeting was "very positive" and there was "consensus" in the room that "you shouldn't talk about spending a surplus that we hope for until it's actually produced."
Sources present at the meeting said the focus, however, was on Social Security, with the participants agreeing to establish a framework for resolving doubts about the system's long-term viability. Lautenberg said there was agreement in the room that members with committee jurisdiction and other links to the issue will begin considering ways to proceed. Lautenberg also said he expects a bipartisan panel--such as the so-called Greenspan Commission of the 1980s--to be formed, although that option was not discussed at the meeting.
While much of the talk centered on "process," one participant said, there was some discussion of the "interplay" between Social Security and projected future budget surpluses, although he emphasized the group did not reach any conclusions on the issue. Lautenberg indicated Clinton was not yet ready to propose his own solutions.
"He's very interested in tackling the problem, but he wants to get a process developed first," Lautenberg said.
Gephardt said there was no discussion of a special session of Congress to address the Social Security issue, adding that he believed the need for a special session should be determined only after "a process is set up to try to move this forward."
The discussion was notable, sources said, for the unanimity exhibited by the participants, especially in the wake of recent acrimony between the administration and the House Democratic leadership on issues such as the budget and fast track trade negotiating authority.
"We didn't even discuss areas of disagreement," said one participant. "This was a chance to focus on areas of consensus."
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