Social Security debate reaches back into Sununu’s past senate races
MANCHESTER, N.H. —
When he was in the U.S. Senate two decades ago, John E. Sununu pushed for changes to Social Security, and as he runs for the Senate again, his position is holding firm.
Then-incumbent Sen. Sununu and Democratic challenger Jeanne Shaheen debated the issue in the 2008 campaign. Sununu helped lead the charge in 2005 to create private Social Security investment accounts for younger workers.
“It’s not gambling when you put money aside in a mutual fund or an IRA or thrift savings plan,” Sununu said during a WMUR debate.
“It is these days,” Shaheen replied.
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Sununu said during the debate that he opposed any changes to benefits for current retirees or changes to the retirement structure for those who were going to retire within 20 years.
Sununu’s message across two decades and three Senate campaigns has remained consistent. He put forward what he contends is a solvency solution, while accusing his opponents of offering no new ideas.
“We’ve had no substantive proposals of any kind coming out of the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate, and on an issue like modernizing and strengthening Social Security, that’s very frustrating indeed,” Sununu said in 2000.
But Democrats won the political argument in 2005, and Sununu lost his Senate seat in 2008. During this campaign, Democrats are circulating a recording of Sununu at a Republican event earlier this year saying he is still willing to take on the issue.
“It’s the younger generations that are going to bear the biggest burden of failing to deal with Medicare solvency and Social Security,” Sununu said. “I’ll tell you a couple of things: I was willing to do it before. I’m willing to do it again.”
One thing that has changed is Sununu now pushes back when someone calls his plan to create privately controlled accounts for younger workers “privatization.”
“It’s not privatization,” he said. “It maintained a guaranteed government benefit.”
Analysts said Sununu’s willingness to engage on a policy issue others won’t touch makes him a lightning rod.
“Sununu is not afraid to offer a solution to a big problem, but when you offer a solution, you’re going to get attacked for it,” said Neil Levesque of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.