The message Congresswoman Betty McCollum has about the future of Social Security can be summed up in two words: Don't panic.

"Social Security is strong and secure for decades to come," the 4th District Congresswoman said during a forum March 30 at the St. Paul Labor Centre. "We have the opportunity to have a calm, rational discussion of Social Security. There needs to be an end to the exaggerated rhetoric."

The St. Paul Democrat cited statistics from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which project that Social Security can fully pay its the current level of benefits through 2052, and still pay more than three-quarters of the required benefits after that.

"We can strengthen Social Security beyond 2052 with a common sense, bipartisan solution," she told a crowd of about 70, which included supporters and opponents of privatization. But that is not happening under President George W. Bush's approach, she said, in which privatization and benefit cuts are the only options being promoted.

Erin Dorbin, of St. Paul (from left), Montana Johnson, of Minneapolis, and Megan Duke, of Minneapolis were among members of UFCW Local 789 at the forum. All three women work at Borders Books and Music in Uptown. St. Paul Union Advocate photo

Encouraging a full discussion
McCollum said the nation needs to have an honest discussion about the genuine financial challenges facing of Social Security. The possibility of private accounts should be part of the discussion, she said. But so should realistic ideas on how to pay for Social Security, the proper level of benefits, appropriate retirement ages, and the impact that changing Social Security could have not only on retirees, but on children and others who receive disability and survivors' benefits.

Stressing that Social Security is designed as an insurance program, not an investment account, McCollum called it the nation's "most successful anti-poverty program ever." Without Social Security, she said, more than half the nation's seniors would be living in poverty.

However, the president's privatization idea would accelerate Social Security's funding shortfall, she said, and cost taxpayers $2 trillion in the next 10 years to pay for the transition. The numbers would get worse after the first decade, McCollum said.

"Privatizing Social Security would saddle our children with $4.9 trillion of debt in the first 20 years alone."

Differing opinions
Loren Murphy, a 27-year old UFCW member, found McCollum's arguments compelling.

"I don?t believe they should gamble with retirement," Murphy said. The St. Paul resident said the No. 1 issue in America should be health care, not the creation of private Social Security accounts.

Ryan Howe, 24, said she believes more solutions involving Social Security should be discussed. "We need to look at all the possible changes before a decision is made," she said.

Loren Murphy, a member of UFCW Local 789: "I don?t believe they should gamble with retirement." St. Paul Union Advocate photo

Members of Generations Together ? a "grassroots" group connected to business coalitions that support privatization ? also were a visible presence at the meeting. Joshua Dahm, a 22-year old supporter of the organization, said he was open to a variety of solutions but considers Social Security "broken."

"I've heard no assurance that I am going to get anything out that I pay in," he said.

But Montana Johnson, a 27-year old member of UFCW Local 789 who works at Borders Books in Uptown Minneapolis, disagreed that Social Security is no longer working. She believed McCollum made the case for a reasoned debate that includes all points of view.

"I'm 100 percent with her," Johnson said. "During a 'crisis,' you are not going to make slow, careful decisions. You are going to make bad ones."