Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Ross assailed Republican candidate Asa Hutchinson on Thursday for suggesting creating personal retirement accounts in the Social Security program in 2001.
Ross then called on Hutchinson to say whether he supports reauthorizing the state's private option program that expanded Medicaid to thousands of previously uninsured Arkansans.
Hutchinson said that it's shameful and underestimates the people of Arkansas "for Mike Ross to read from the tired old Democratic playbook and use false attacks to scare our senior citizens.
"To paraphrase [former President] Ronald Reagan, there he goes again," Hutchinson said in a written statement.
Surrounded by a dozen senior citizens at his campaign headquarters in Little Rock on the 79th anniversary of the signing of the federal law that created the Social Security progam, Ross said that nearly one of four Arkansans received Social Security benefits last year and that Social Security lifted 315,000 Arkansans out of poverty in 2012.
"But if Congressman Hutchinson had had his way in Congress, the fate of our Arkansas seniors would have been very different," Ross said.
If Hutchinson and his allies had succeeded in privatizing Social Security during the early 2000s, Ross said, many seniors would have seen their savings wiped out during the 2007 and 2008 stock market crash.
Ross said Hutchinson joined a coalition of more than 100 members of Congress in 2001 in sending a letter to a presidential commission encouraging it to support the creation of individual retirement accounts in lieu of Social Security.
President George W. President Bush later announced his plan to privatize Social Security, which Americans rejected and Ross opposed.
Ross said Hutchinson signed a letter dated May 24, 2001, to the co-chairmen of the President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security, Democratic U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and AOL Time-Warner executive Richard Parsons, that said "Social Security reform" must protect the benefits of all current retirees and those nearing retirement, return the system to sound actuarial footing, and offer younger workers the opportunity to improve their rates of return using personal retirement accounts.
Hutchinson said Thursday that he's always supported a strong Social Security system and has fought for senior citizens and that he'll continue to do so as governor.
"If Mike Ross wants to make Social Security an issue, he should run for Congress. I am running for governor to create jobs and strengthen education," Hutchinson said in his written statement.
Ross of Little Rock is a former 4th district congressman, state senator and Nevada County Quorum Court member.
Hutchinson is a former 3rd district congressman, federal Department of Homeland Security undersecretary and director of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
They are vying in the Nov. 4 general election to succeed Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe.
At his news conference, Ross said he supports the state's private option program that helps nearly 200,000 low-income Arkansans get private health insurance. One in seven of them are older than 55, he said.
"Congressman Hutchinson refuses to say whether he will reauthorize the law and has said that ending the private option would be a very simple process," Ross said.
Hutchinson "has been dancing and sidestepping the private option a year and a half now," Ross said, and "has not given a straight answer."
The expansion of the Medicaid program, approved by the Legislature last year, extends coverage to adults with incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level -- $16,105 for an individual or $32,913 for a family of four.
The federal government will pay the full cost of covering the newly eligible enrollees until 2017, when states will begin paying 5 percent of the cost. The state's share will then rise each year until it reaches 10 percent in 2020.
During the 2013 and 2014 sessions, the Republican-controlled Legislature narrowly authorized the use of federal funds for the private option. Seventy-five votes in the 100-member House and 27 votes in the 35-member Senate are required to approve funding for the program.
In May 2013, Hutchinson said he would have approved legislation authorizing the use of federal Medicaid dollars to obtain private health insurance for low-income Arkansas. But if he had been governor, he said, he would have called a special session of the Legislature devoted entirely to the issue and he would have tried to shape the bill, "so it might have been a different bill that came to me."
Two months ago, Hutchinson said he's optimistic that state lawmakers will do "the right thing" with the private option, wants more information to guide his decision-making, and will work with Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature to determine its future.
Asked about Hutchinson's stance on the private option, Hutchinson spokesman Christian Olson Thursday pointed to a statement on Hutchinson's campaign website in which the candidate said that he views the private option "as a pilot project; a pilot project that can be ended if needed.
"As governor, I will assess the benefit of the private option and measure the long-term costs to the state taxpayers," Hutchinson said on the website. "If the private option is not accomplishing its objectives and it costs too much, then we need to end it and I will be the first one to call for its termination."
Metro on 08/15/2014