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Posted: September 5, 2007 5:35 PM
Brownback: Social Security 'Stinks'
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Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., told a New Hampshire crowd that the current Social Security system “stinks,” and he outlined a proposal he said would improve the program.

“It’s a system that worked great for my grandparents. It’s working pretty well for my parents. It’s working so-so for my generation, the baby boomer generation. It stinks for my kids,” Brownback said in Manchester.

Brownback has five children, three who are paying Social Security. His proposal would allow Americans to put up to 5 percent of their taxable income into optional personal accounts and reduce the amount of Social Security taxes that workers would pay.

The senator also participated in last week’s LiveStrong Presidential Cancer Forum, hosted by MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and bicycling champion and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong.

Matthews asked Brownback, who said he wanted to spend more money on fighting cancer, how he would shift governmental spending toward funding cancer research. Brownback responded that he would set up a system similar to the Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, commission, which helps Congress decide which military bases to cut and how to consolidate spending.

Matthews countered, “I’ve been heard this for years, that we are going to cut 1 percent from every government program. These are gimmicks, senator.”

“They are not gimmicks,” Brownback retorted.

“I’ve never even heard of the BRAC process,” commented Armstrong, to audience applause.