Many of the residents criticized his support for President Bush's proposed reforms and said his energy should be focused on finding better ways to fix the system.
Wilson, R-S.C., whose district includes Beaufort, Jasper and Hampton counties, said he supports Bush's proposal to allow people to put money in personal security accounts and does not support changing tax rates to pay for it. But members of the group Concerned Citizens, who are mostly retired, argued vigorously and loudly at times that Wilson should support other methods of reform.
"It just doesn't seem moral to me," Carroll Austin told Wilson. Austin said she thought politicians needed to consider eliminating tax breaks for higher income people to fix the system. "That's just not fair."
Concerned Citizens is a group of Hilton Head-area residents that formed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to discuss national issues and express their concerns to local legislators. The group is nonpartisan but many members are fiscally conservative, said Sara Lucas, an official with the group. The group has met with Wilson before and invited him to speak about Social Security. About 25 people attended the meeting Monday.
Wilson said the purpose of the meeting was to get feedback from the community on the contentious Social Security issue, though he spent the majority of the hour-long meeting Monday morning defending his positions on Bush's proposed changes. Wilson said he and other lawmakers were worried that increased life expectancy and the growing retiree population would bankrupt the system by 2042, though some economists and Democrats have debated that point.