Ensign pushes Bush’s Social Security plan

Wednesday, March 23, 2005 | 9:36 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., pushed President Bush's Social Security plan to the Nevada Legislature Tuesday, getting in return the silent treatment.

But he received hearty applause from a joint session of the Legislature when he said he had commitments to stop any future efforts by the Bush Administration to "steal" the money from sale of the public lands in Southern Nevada.

Ensign told a press conference later that Nevada has the momentum in the battle to stop the nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain and the state must make more efforts to get support in Congress for dry-cask storage of the radioactive waste.

Ensign compared Social Security, which has earned a 2 percent rate of return on investments to the Nevada State Public Employees Retirement System that has realized an 11 percent return.

He said people should have the right to invest part of their money, rather than depending on Social Security. This would be a step towards solving problems. If this is not done, "We are only delaying a future crisis."

A good part of his 15-minute speech was devoted to Social Security but he did not receive any applause during the presentation. The speech was interrupted a total of five times by the audience clapping.

He acknowledged to reporters that he differs with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on this issue. "We differ a lot on national issues and we don't criticize each other," he said.

"It is a healthier way -- we can disagree and not personally attack each other," Ensign said.

He said the two come to agreement mostly on Nevada issues.

"Today's retirees are protected. Anybody 55 years and older are in the current system and they will stay in the current system," he said. "But for younger workers if we want to have Social Security there for them, it cannot exist in the current form. We have to design a better system."

He said there is no plan coming from the other side.

On Yucca Mountain, he said he talked with Vice President Dick Cheney, who was in Reno Tuesday to push the president's Social Security plan.

"On Yucca Mountain, I told him (Cheney) you are going to have to start looking for alternatives because this latest round could be the death knell especially when proponents of Yucca Mountain are behind the scenes -- they are not saying it publicly -- are saying they are very concerned about Yucca Mountain being completed," he said. But he refused to identify the proponents who are allegedly worried about the nuclear dump.

He said the court battle against the repository has been strengthened with the new revelation about faulty documents involving the suitability of the location.

Asked if President Bush should reverse himself on Yucca Mountain, Ensign said, "What they are doing is evaluating whether it is the documentation or the science."

He said the temporary nuclear storage facility on Indian land in Utah is close to being licensed "which could become a permanent storage facility which is why Utah senators are very upset about this."

He defended the vote in Congress to allow the parents of Terri Schiavo to get into federal court to preserve her life, though he said he didn't know all the facts.

"Congress didn't say whether she should live or die. They just erred on the side of giving her another chance so the federal courts can review it," he said. "We do that for somebody on death row. When there a question, shouldn't we do that for any other American when there's a question whether it's her wish or not?"

On No Child Left Behind, Ensign said he was told two years ago that it was an "unfunded mandate" and the federal government was not paying the cost.

During the past two years, he said he has challenged every school district and individual and "not one person has shown it's an unfunded mandate."