WASHINGTON — President Clinton today announced that he has invited the
Concord Coalition and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) to
co-host a non-partisan conference on the future of Social Security on April
7 in Kansas City, Mo.
WASHINGTON — President Clinton today announced that he has invited the
Concord Coalition and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) to
co-host a non-partisan conference on the future of Social Security on April
7 in Kansas City, Mo.
The conference, which President Clinton will attend, will be the first of
four events co-hosted by Concord and the AARP designed to increase public
awareness about the challenges facing Social Security, and the options for
reforming the program. The president or vice president will attend each of
the regional conferences scheduled throughout 1998.
During his announcement at Georgetown University, the president stressed
the importance of a "national dialogue" on the challenges facing Social
Security in order to prepare Americans for reforms that must take place
prior to the retirement of the Baby Boom generation.
Concord Co-Chairman Warren Rudman welcomed the president’s invitation to
co-host the conferences, and agreed that a national dialogue will be a
critical component of any major reforms of the giant Social Security system.
"The danger with Social Security reform, as with all complex and emotional
issues, is that without a national dialogue, people will be vulnerable to
the demagoguery of narrow special interests and political partisanship,"
Rudman said. "Attempting to make changes to the system before the
groundwork is laid would likely lead to political gridlock and delays that
we can no longer afford."
The date and location of the next three Social Security conferences will be
announced at a later date.
