Rep. Obey says GOP wants to 'privatize Social Security'

Retiring Rep. David Obey (D) is going after his fellow Wisconsin congressman, Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, over entitlements to try to help Democrats retain his seat.

Obey, the outgoing chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, highlighted Tuesday the fact that the Republican running to replace him, former district attorney Sean Duffy, has backed Ryan's budget roadmap, which Democrats have described as an attempt to weaken entitlement programs.

Obey said Ryan's plan "would in fact privatize Social Security over time and put Medicare on a voucher program," according to the Rhinelander Daily News.

"Congressman Ryan happens to be a very nice person ... but I do not agree with him at all on this prescription for Social Security and Medicare," Obey added. "There have been people who have been trying to get rid of those programs for a long, long time."

Obey, who has helped craft the Democrats' economic policies as head of the powerful Appropriations panel, spoke Tuesday at a senior center in his district. He is backing state Sen. Julie Lassa (D) to succeed him after 21 terms as Wisconsin's 7th district congressman.

Ryan has already made a campaign appearance for Duffy in the district, and Ryan's staff on the House Budget Committee said Wednesday that Obey's remarks were demonstrably false.

The Ryan roadmap would allow those younger than 55 to shift some of taxes they pay into the Social Security trust fund into personal accounts, the GOP staff on the Budget Committee said. Anyone older would remain in the current system.

"The draconian alternative — as advanced by those eager to engage in false demagogery [sic] in advance of an election — is for an across the board 22% benefit cut for seniors in the heart of their retirement when the Social Security Trust Fund is exhausted," the staff said in a memo to reporters.

On Medicare, Ryan's plan calls for those under 55 to get government vouchers to purchase health plans that have been approved by Medicare instead of being entered into the current system.

Duffy himself hasn't explicitly backed Ryan's entitlement proposals, and has said that he wouldn't support "privatizing Social Security." But Obey noted that the GOP candidate has gotten public support from both Ryan and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who once supported major entitlement reforms.

"All I know is that the lead Republican in the Congress on budget matters — Paul Ryan from southeast Wisconsin — he has introduced the legislation that would privatize Social Security and voucherize Medicare," he said. "I know that Mr. Duffy appeared on the same platform with Newt Gingrich, who is the person who said he wanted Medicare to "wither on the vine.' "