To The Mat

Missouri Pro-Vote is helping lead a coalition of nearly two dozen Missouri groups in a protest over President Bush's Social Security privatization efforts.

President Bush is the star attraction at a $2,000-per-plate fundraising dinner for Sen. Jim Talent's re-election campaign on Thursday, June 2nd. The dinner is being held at the Millennium Hotel downtown.

The groups plan to be there by 4:30 p.m. to be there when the President arrives to demonstrate their opposition to his plans.

"People are very impassioned," said Margarida Jorge the St. Louis Program Director for Missouri Pro Vote. "The social security issue is a really hot issue for people."

The Missouri coalition is also working with the national group Americans United to Protect Social Security as well as MoveOn PAC. Their focus is to force legislators from their districts to take a stand on Social Security and to go on the record either supporting the President's plan or not. It's the least they can do for their constituents, says Jorge.

Jorge said several groups have tried to get Sen. Talent to go on record, but he has not responded to their invitations to speak to them.

"This is a really tough issue," said Jorge. "A lot of people want to stay in the closet. Don't piss off your constituents, don't piss off the President."

They have made some headway with Missouri Representative Jo Ann Emerson (R-08), who is the Representative with the highest number of Social Security recipients in her district. She has said that she will not support a plan that is fiscally irresponsible and adds trillions of dollars to the U.S. national debt.

Recent reports of the President's waning political capital aside, the groups are focusing on events featuring the President and his speeches about privatization. They realize that waning public support for the President's signature plan can help pressure Representatives and Senators to come out on one side of the issue or the other.

"It seems no matter what [the President] does or where he goes the plan becomes less popular," said Jorge. "People don’t want to give up what they are entitled to and what they have earned."