Statement from Hillary Clinton on Sen. McCain's Support for Social Security Privatization

Hillary Clinton made the following statement at a "Solutions for the American Economy" town hall earlier this afternoon in Greensburg, PA: "Senator McCain said something stunning the other day. He pledged to continue President Bush's attempts to privatize Social Security. He said, and I quote, 'as part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it, along the lines that President Bush proposed.'

"Now, Senator McCain has already promised to continue George Bush's failed Iraq policy, and to make permanent his tax breaks for the wealthy few. Now he's taking up President Bush's assault on Social Security. So in a nutshell, that's John McCain's plan for America - four more years of the same. Well, we cannot afford one more year of the same.

"Now for the life of me, I cannot understand how Senator McCain can find the money for 100 more years in Iraq and tax cuts for the wealthiest, but not for Social Security. And I would never understand why he turned Social Security's guarantee into a stock market gamble for millions of Americans. You don't need to look any further than Bear Stearns and Wall Street lately to know that our workers and seniors simply can't afford the Bush-McCain privatization scheme.

"So my message to Senator McCain is this - Social Security privatization is a bad idea whose time has come and gone, and the American people rejected the Bush privatization plan in 2005 and the American people will reject the Bush-McCain privatization plan in 2008."