Shows bill would ban privatization' of Social Security

By Staff
special to The Star
Oct. 3, 2002
U.S. Rep. Ronnie Shows has introduced a bill that would reject any attempts to divert funds intended for Social Security into private savings accounts.
Shows said if the trust fund is depleted, money will not be there for people who need it. He disagrees with some of his colleagues who think private accounts are the only way to save Social Security.
Shows, in campaign speeches this summer, blasted rival U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering's prior commitment to President Bush's proposal to allow Americans to invest part of their Social Security taxes in the stock market.
Pickering has since withdrawn his support for the plan, citing an unstable national economy, a fluctuating stock market and the U.S. war against terrorism.
Shows, 55, a Democrat from Bassfield, represents the 4th Congressional District. When Mississippi lost a U.S. House seat after Census 2000 and congressional re-districting, he was placed in a newly redrawn 3rd District.
Shows faces Pickering, 39, a Republican from Laurel, in the Nov. 5 election. Pickering represents the current 3rd District.