The Hill News

Congress should cut a deal this year to raise the retirement age to 69, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said.

Graham, who'd flirted last month with an increase in the retirement age in order to help address Social Security's solvency, backed a phased-in hike in the retirement age.

"As I said on Meet the Press, I'm looking for a process that will lead to a vote on saving Social Security from bankruptcy this year, that would adjust the age," Graham said on WVOC radio in South Carolina.

Graham referenced as his model the deal cut between President Reagan (R) and Democratic House Speaker Tip O'Neill (Mass.) in the 1980s that provided for a gradual increase in the retirement age to 67.

"Ronald Reagan went from 65 to 67 with Tipp O'Neill … we could use that same type system, to go from 67 to 69, for people under 55," he said.

The South Carolina senator's words are maybe the boldest stand by a Republican this Congress calling for a major change to Social Security.

Senate Democrats have sought to make the entitlement program into a m! ajor political lightning rod for the GOP. Senate Majority Lead! er Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told liberal activists that major changes to the program were "off the table," and Democrats have hammered away at any Republican proposal that even smacks of cutting or privatizing Social Security.

Graham said in early January that a hike in the retirement age should be on the table, but he didn't go so far as to openly advocate raising it, or to a specific point. Even those words earned him the enmity of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), a liberal group that launc! hed television against Graham on the issue.

Republican leaders have talked about entitlement reform this Congress, and they have almost all spoken of the need to keep all options on the table. But Social Security has long been considered an untouchable issue -- the "third rail" of politics -- that no lawmaker would dare tackle it. Last week, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he made a "mistake" when he suggested last year that the retirement age necessarily needed to be raised.

Graham also said he believes Social Security should be "means-tested," or adjusted so that wealthier individuals receive slightly less in Social Security payments.
!