Four Republican members of the House Ways and Means Committee on June 22 announced a Social Security reform proposal that one called a "first step towards stopping the raid on Social Security."

The Growing Real Ownership for Workers (GROW) Act would use the Social Security surplus to fund personal accounts, which would be available as an option to people under that age of 55. The accounts would be invested in Treasury securities, at least until 2009, when other investment options would be considered.

Unlike President Bush's proposal, this plan would not directly fund personal accounts with a portion of individual workers' payroll taxes, but Democrats still rejected it, with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi calling it "the same risky privatization scheme in different packaging."

"It still includes huge benefit cuts to the middle class, massive debt and a weaker Social Security program - ideas that the American people have already rejected," Pelosi said. "The only difference [from Bush's plan] is cosmetic - one approach would create risky private accounts directly from a worker's paycheck, and the other would finance risky private accounts from Social Security payroll taxes when they reached the federal Treasury."

Democrats also charged that the plan would not stop the "raid on Social Security" since the program's surplus would still end up being spent for non-Social Security purposes after it is invested in Treasury securities.

The plan will likely be part of a broad retirement bill that is expected to include legislation from Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, that would reform funding rules for private sector defined benefit pension plans.