WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican congressional leaders say they are standing behind President Bush's proposal to remake Social Security but concede they may not be able to win congressional approval of it this year.
"This is the mother of all issues," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said Tuesday.
He added that opponents of the president's plans "are better organized than we are.
DeLay, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and numerous other GOP lawmakers said Bush's public campaigning has begun to show results, but that more work lies ahead to build support for personal investment accounts as part of a program to make Social Security solvent for the long term.
"People have bought into the fact that we have a problem" with Social Security's future financing, said Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia.
"The president will have to stay out there and lead on it, when a lot of political figures want to run and hide and when you have a lot of people who say there's no problem," said Frist."
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