Sen. Durbin: 'Extremely difficult' to win 60 votes for Social Security reform

Social Security reforms likely won't become a part of Senate negotiations toward a long-term fiscal reform for political reasons, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Monday.

Durbin, a member of a six-person, bipartisan group of senators who are hammering out an agreement to reduce the national debt, said that including Social Security reforms in that package would make it difficult to get the 60 votes needed for any proposal to move ahead in the Senate.

"Including Social Security makes it extremely difficult to bring the 60 votes together," Durbin said on MSNBC. "Especially in the Democratic caucus."

Durbin is a member of the so-called "Gang of Six," the three Democratic and three Republican senators now bargaining on a long-term fiscal plan. All six were members of President Obama's fiscal commission, which recommended entitlement reforms as part of its deficit-reduction plan. 

That plan did not win enough support from commission members to get a vote in the House or Senate, but Durbin said it provides the "template" for current negotiations in the upper chamber.

Earlier this month Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) sent a stern warning to those hoping to reform Social Security, saying he'd only be willing to consider major changes to the entitlement program in 20 years.

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