In an interview with The Heritage Foundation, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) criticized her liberal colleagues for opposing Social Security reform, warning that they would rather increase taxes on businesses.
Hutchison singled out Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) for his repeatedly claiming that Social Security is not in trouble. Reid has gone so far as to call it a conservative “myth”. As Hutchison retorted:
“It’s clearly in trouble if its own trustees say its going bankrupt in 25 years. If that’s not a signal to everyone that we’ve got to do something now, then I don’t know what it would take. You can either do something gradually so that it doesn’t hurt very much, but will keep it solvent in the long run, or you can do drastic things, which of course Harry Reid would like to increase the taxes on employers.”
Hutchison, who spoke about her reform plan last week at Heritage, said Social Security can be easily and effectively reformed — and must be to save the program from bankruptcy.