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Oct 8, 2008 6:00 pm US/Central
Franken, Coleman Differ On Retirement Savings
ST. PAUL (AP) ―
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Norm Coleman (left) and Al Franken.
CBS
As market turbulence continues to chip into retirement accounts, Sen. Norm Coleman and his opponent Al Franken offered different approaches Wednesday to help people save.
The candidates' differing views on Social Security took center stage in dueling news conferences featuring Franken and Coleman's campaign manager, Cullen Sheehan. Franken used the unstable stock market as an example of why Coleman was wrong when he supported allowing younger workers to divert Social Security proceeds to private accounts; Sheehan refused to back down from that support on Coleman's behalf, but said the senator's main priority would be a bipartisan commission that would look for ways to preserve Social Security's solvency into the future.
Coleman views private accounts "as one option on the table," Sheehan said.
Franken, in an appearance at a rest home in St. Paul, told a group of seniors that the solvency of Social Security bears watching, but that it's not the crisis portrayed by some.
"Social Security has been solvent since 1933," Franken said. "We made corrections in the past. We may have to in the future."
But Franken said he would not support adding any kind of private aspect to Social Security. Coleman should "just admit this was a bad idea" given news this week that market turbulence has resulted in the loss of $2 trillion to pension funds in the U.S.
Coleman's campaign accused Franken of "fear-mongering" the Social Security issue.
"Senator Coleman has long believed that personal accounts would provide greater economic security and help ensure the long-term solvency of Social Security," Sheehan said, but he added that Coleman would support the recommendations of an independent commission "whether or not personal accounts are part of the solution."
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Norm Coleman was born in New York City in 1949. Al Franken was born in New York City in 1951.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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