The president's bipartisan debt panel has come up with a number of controversial proposals regarding Social Security in its draft report. (Among them: gradually increase the age until it reaches 69 in 2075 and lower cost-of-living increases.)
But U.S. Rep. John Larson, a powerful Democrat from East Hartford who sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, signaled today such changes would be a tough sell for Democrats.
Larson called any effort to privatize Social Security a "non-starter" and said the federal government needs to "honor the committment" it made to those who have paid into the system.
While Larson said he would be open to defecit-reduction measures "that are constructive and make sense," he also expressed a reluctance to touch Social Security.
"This is a bedrock program for the American people,'' Larson said at a press conference at the Legislative Office Building this morning hosted by the Connecticut Alliance for Retired Americans.