Shaw backs add-ons

Rep. Clay Shaw (R-Fla.) fired back yesterday after House conservatives criticized aspects of his Social Security reform bill.

Reps. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) sent a letter to President Bush this week criticizing “add-on accounts,” which are included in Shaw’s bill.

Shaw responded by sending his own letter to Bush, stating, “The assertion in Representatives Pence’s and Shadegg’s letter that ‘add-on accounts do not solve the problems of solvency’ is grossly inaccurate.”

The Republican Study Committee, a group of House conservatives that Pence heads, was scheduled to meet with the president yesterday on Social Security reform.

Bob Cusack