Bush In Prime Time Tonight
Bush in prime time tonight
Will offer 'more specifics' about Social Security plan
Thursday, April 28, 2005 Posted: 6:37 PM EDT (2237 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush will hold a prime time news conference Thursday to discuss two "important priorities" for the White House -- Social Security and energy -- a spokesman said.
"This is an important period in the national debate over strengthening Social Security," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.
Originally set for 8:30 p.m., the event was moved up to 8:01 "due to the complications of network programming," the White House announced Thursday afternoon.
Bush on Sunday is slated to complete a 60-day, 60-city tour during which he has called for change in the nation's retirement program for the elderly.
The tour was billed as an opportunity to educate the American people about the president's ideas to overhaul the Social Security system, which was established in the 1930s as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal during the Great Depression.
The president has emphasized that his proposal would give younger workers the option of creating private investment accounts funded with Social Security payroll taxes.
Bush has said that the benefits of current retirees would not be affected.
A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll showed the president faces obstacles in changing the program.
In the poll, 64 percent of respondents said they disapproved of the way Bush is handling Social Security, and 31 percent said they approved.
On the question of private accounts, 51 percent of respondents said they opposed such an idea and 45 percent said they supported it.
The margin of error for both questions was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Thursday's event would mark Bush's fourth prime time East Room news conference since taking office in January 2001.
The president will use it as an opportunity to go into "more specifics" and lay out "ideas for a bipartisan solution" regarding how his proposal to revamp Social Security would work, McClellan said.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that Bush's tour has been "a dismal failure."
"What I am hoping the president tonight will say about his Social Security and privatization plan tonight is 'uncle,'" the California Democrat said.
Sen. Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican, said private accounts are "an important piece" of any solution to the long-term solvency of Social Security.
"The president has done a good job of letting the public know Social Security has problems," Coleman said. "There's no question about it. My friends on the other side of the aisle haven't offered anything."
Energy ideas
McClellan said Bush would also discuss his ideas for addressing the nation's growing energy needs at a time when the average price of gasoline in recent surveys has topped $2.20 a gallon.
"The American people are concerned about the price at the pump," he said.
Bush delivered his second speech in a week on energy Wednesday, conceding there was nothing he could do in the short term to bring down gasoline prices, but urging Congress to pass an energy bill he said would provide long-term solutions. (Full story)
Bush also met with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah on Monday in hopes of persuading the kingdom to ease high oil prices by pumping more crude.
But officials said the meeting ended with no promises that the Saudis would increase its short-term oil production. (Full story)
Bush's energy bill failed to pass the Senate during his first term because of opposition to drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But with a wider GOP majority in the Senate this year, the measure appears more likely to pass.
In addition, House and Senate GOP leaders have agreed to place the ANWR drilling provision in the budget bill, further increasing the likelihood it will pass. (Full story)
Pelosi said Bush's plan is "more of the same: more nuclear plants, more oil refineries, an increased reliance on old energy sources."
"Gas prices are soaring, and American people are demanding relief now, not within the next decade," she said.
CNN's Andrea Koppel contributed to this report.
