[O'brien:] We're turning now to President Bush and his road trip to push his Social Security plan. The president is visiting five red states, and they're all states that have at least one Democratic senator that Mr. Bush hopes to persuade, along with the American people, that his plan is a good one. Yesterday, the president made stops in North Dakota and Montana. Today, he's waking up in Nebraska before he travels to Arkansas and Florida. Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska is one of those Democrats that the president is hoping to win over. He joins us from Omaha this morning. Nice to see you, sir. Thank you very much for being with us.
[Sen. Ben Nelson , Nebraska:] Good morning, Soledad.
[O'brien:] You live in a red state, which of course, helped President Bush get reelected. He's there to sell his Social Security plan. You're a Democrat. Tell me a little bit about your constituency and their feelings, as far as you can tell, about an overhaul of Social Security.
[Nelson:] Well, I think the constituency here, which voted overwhelmingly for the president's reelection, just generally though has some skepticism about any kind of tampering with Social Security. It's sort of they're anxious to see the plan. The president has gone from a concept to some content, and now it's time to see the calculations. And when we see the plan, I think the people in Nebraska and the people of the country will have an idea about what it will do.
[O'brien:] Speaking about what's known at this time about the plan, 43 of your fellow Democratic senators, and also Vermont's independent Senator James Jeffords, signed a letter to President Bush, and they said this about the plan: "In our view, shifting financial obligations of this magnitude to future generations is immoral, unacceptable, unsustainable." You were the only Democrat, I believe, to not sign the letter. Why not?
[Nelson:] There were a couple of reasons why. First of all, as you know, the Democrats are not always united on things of this sort. And I felt that the tone of the letter was a little sharp. Also, it criticized the tax cut that I supported. And so I just didn't feel comfortable signing the letter. But, you know, many of my colleagues felt comfortable doing it and they felt comfortable with the fact; I didn't. And that's sort of how the process works.
[O'brien:] Just a moment ago, you said you sort of want to see the calculations and some of the numbers. Let's play a clip of what the president had to say about the numbers in this the State of the Union address
[George W. Bush, President Of The United States:] By the year 2042, the entire system would be exhausted and bankrupt. If steps are not taken to avert that outcome, the only solutions would be dramatically higher taxes, massive new borrowing or sudden and severe cuts in Social Security benefits or other government programs.
[O'brien:] And you're saying you want to wait and kind of do your own math on this. Are you saying you think the president's not being forthright and truthful about those numbers?
[Nelson:] No, he's citing the CBO numbers of 2052. The GAO numbers are 2042. I don't want to get wonkish on the numbers, but there are actuarial calculations that are important: mortality tables, health or morbidity tables. This is a very complex situation. It's an insurance plan as well as a pension plan. It provides for disability or survivor's benefits as well as for pension or retirement benefits. I don't want to be a wonk about it, but I do know that you have to have actuarial calculations. And to do that, it's not about what year it will become insolvent or what year it won't be able to respond fully, but it's about what these proposed changes would do to continue to provide benefits for people above 55 and below 55, and what implications are there to the deficit.
[O'brien:] And the president has said, hey, he's willing to take any suggestions from everybody. Do you have any suggestions? What would you like to see?
[Nelson:] Well, my suggestions are that, first of all, we do no harm, that we not only take care of the people above 55, but make sure that what we're doing below 55 doesn't reduce their benefits. Restructuring the plan doesn't necessarily cure the potential insolvency of it. What we've got to do is cure the insolvency first. Any kind of restructuring, I think, is probably secondary, maybe important, but is secondary to making sure that the plan is solvent. I want to work with the president. I'm anxious what his specific plan is, and then [inaudible] we'll be able to sit down and work through it. Calculations become very important. It's one thing to have a concept. I'm glad that he's putting out content. And the next step, of course, is calculation.
[O'brien:] Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson joining us this morning. Thank you, sir. Nice to see you.
[Nelson:] Nice to see you.
[Hemmer:] Now to the shakeup at United Nations. There's a report implicating the man in charge for the oil-for-food program of illicit oil deals. Chief investigator Paul Volcker released the interim report on corruption in the program yesterday. The report says the director of oil-for-food, Benon Sevan, put himself in, quote, "a grave and continuing conflict of interest situation." It accused him are of soliciting Iraqi oil for a company trading, which sold it for profit. Sevan denies all those accusations. However, Annan has ordered disciplinary action against him and another U.N. official in charge of the sanctions branch Soledad.
[O'brien:] Is the job market finally back in gear? Andy has the early word on a big report. He's "Minding Your Business," just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.