Kanjorski, Barletta trade barbs over Social Security surplus

As the weather heats up, so does the race for the 11th Congressional District seat.

Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, the Republican challenger, on Tuesday accused incumbent Democrat Paul Kanjorski of voting to use $4 trillion in surplus Social Security money since 1990 for the general budget.

Kanjorski, who is seeking a 13th term, responded by attacking Barletta's position on Social Security in his unsuccessful 2002 campaign against him, when Barletta said he favored diverting some of the money into investments in government - backed securities.

''Is Barletta a flip-flopper?'' Kanjorski asked in a statement. ''Which Barletta position on Social Security will we believe? Is it the change of position he claims today, or the one he's held with his Republican friends for the past six years?''

Barletta, after a news conference in Scranton, said he had given up on privatizing Social Security, saying ''the American people have spoken on that.''

He called Kanjorski's statement a ''Washington smokescreen intended to keep the current members' hands on your money.

''I oppose any attempts to cut benefits, raise the retirement age or privatize Social Security,'' Barletta said. The subject of Social Security is a particularly important one in the 11th District, which includes all of Carbon, Columbia and Monroe counties and parts of Lackawanna and Luzerne counties. The district has 115,000 people 65 or older, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Only two other congressional districts in the state -- both in western Pennsylvania -- have more seniors.

Barletta said Congress has used surplus Social Security funds in the general budget -- borrowing money at no interest.

''The direction of the flow needs to be reversed,'' Barletta said. He said Congress should stop spending the surplus and redirect money now used to finance the war in Iraq to help Social Security when the war ends.

Gary Burtless, an economist with the Brookings Institution in Washington, said the government uses Social Security taxes to buy U.S. Treasury bonds, and has since Social Security was created in the Great Depression.

When the federal budget runs a deficit, the government has more treasury bonds to sell, and Social Security buys up more of them. But Burtless said he does not think Social Security drives deficit spending.

''Some of my retirement holdings are invested in government securities,'' Burtless said. ''But every time I add to my treasury holdings, I don't think I'm giving the government carte blanche to spend.''

Barletta said something has to be done in nine years, when the Social Security fund is projected to spend more than it takes in. If ignored, the Social Security reserve will hit zero around 2041, Burtless said.

Barletta said money spent on the war in Iraq -- $525 billion and counting -- should be redirected to Social Security when troops leave there. He said a decision on when the war ends should be made by generals.

Kanjorski challenged Barletta to lay out a plan to get the country out of Iraq.

''Before he spends the $10 billion a month the war costs maybe he could tell us how he proposes to get out of Iraq and if his timeline is the same as fellow Republicans George Bush and John McCain,'' Kanjorski said. ''Will you and McCain be there for 100 years, Lou, and then spend the money on Social Security?''

The war has become an issue as the tenor of the campaign has sharpened in the past several days.

A video clip was posted last week on YouTube in which Kanjorski said Democrats ''sort of stretched the facts'' in the 2006 election by implying the party could end the Iraq war.

Barletta again criticized Kanjorski for his remarks. ''As recent events have shown, Paul Kanjorski will say anything to stay in office,'' he said.

In a news release last week, Kanjorski said he believes some Democrats in 2006 overestimated the ability of a single house of Congress to end the war, especially with the president and Senate Republicans supporting it.

''I believe that it is time for the Iraqis to take care of Iraq, and we need to execute a sensible withdrawal plan,'' he said.

Barletta spoke Tuesday across the street from the federal courthouse in downtown Scranton, where Hazleton's anti-Illegal Immigration Relief Act was litigated and Barletta got some national attention. A judge there ruled the ordinance is unenforceable because immigration is a federal jurisdiction.

The case has been appealed to the federal 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.