EW YORK - Democrat Al Gore said yesterday that George W. Bush's Social Security plan would be ''bad for American families and bad for our economy'' because retirement money would be exposed to a fickle stock market.
In an address to publishers and editors at the annual meeting of the Associated Press, Gore also asserted more broadly that his Republican presidential rival would subject the nation to ''short-term irresponsible decisions'' on many issues, including the budget, taxes, education, the environment, and guns.
Bush and Gore were in New York to attend the funeral of Roman Catholic Cardinal John J. O'Connor. Because of the funeral, Bush postponed plans to unveil his Social Security initiative, which would allow Americans to invest a portion of their payroll taxes in the stock market in hopes of yielding higher returns than the current system. The Texas governor is to address many of the same executives by satellite tomorrow at the convention of the Newspaper Association of America.
Gore wants to use interest savings from paying down the national debt to shore up the Social Security system through 2054. By raising alarms about Bush's intentions even before the Texas governor described his plan, Gore was hoping to drive elderly and baby-boom voters away from the GOP campaign.
''I think that's bad for American families and bad for our economy because it takes away our ability to pay down the national debt,'' Gore said of reports that Bush would use budget surpluses to help make the transition to his market-orientated plan. ''And it is associated with some risk because ideas that look very beguiling when the markets are great may not look so great if the market turns,'' he said.
Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett replied, ''What history has shown is the market, over a period of time, has had a rate of return far greater than the Social Security trust fund.''
Gore, who has long urged regular debates with Bush, called yesterday for a debate solely on the Social Security issue as soon as possible. Bartlett, in response, noted that two Democratic senators, Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York and Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, support investment of so-called personal savings accounts for Social Security. ''It seems Al Gore needs first to debate members of his own party,'' he said.
