A key GOP congressman indicated to public pension representatives on June 24 that mandatory Social Security coverage of state and local workers probably will not be included in Social Security reform legislation, but he declined to rule it out.

It's something we're looking at but I don't think we'll do anything with it.

"It's something we're looking at but I don't think we'll do anything with it," House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Jim McCrery of Louisiana said. "But I can't make any promises."

McCrery's comments came in a brief encounter with members of the Public Pension Network - a coalition of public employee and employer groups that includes Coalition to Preserve Retirement Security administrator Lussier, Gregor, Vienna & Associates - who were in his office to meet with a member of his staff on Social Security and pension issues. The staffer expanded on the comments during the meeting.

"Everything is officially on the table, but I think they're more looking at, yes, you do get an initial benefit but then you have to pay these people retirement benefits," she said, also acknowledging that, "ultimately, the cost will have to be paid by [taxpayers] who are already paying Social Security taxes. It's everyone's issue."

McCrery, whose panel generally must vet all Social Security bills before they are voted on by the full House, made more ominous comments about mandatory coverage at a June 9 subcommittee hearing. "The question that keeps coming back to me is why shouldn't everybody contribute to a system like Social Security that is supposed to be a universal system," he said at the hearing, adding, during a discussion of the measure's minimal impact on Social Security's finances, that he and his colleagues are "looking for pieces here, there and everywhere" that will restore the program's solvency.