Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee met yesterday to discuss options to reform Social Security and achieve solvency for the program. Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said a number of options were discussed during the meeting (including gradually increasing the retirement age and reducing benefits for high-income seniors), but that he was holding off on pushing only private carve-out accounts - a non-solution favored by President Bush - because of lack of consensus on the policy. Democrats were not involved in the meeting, with Grassley saying he needs to achieve consensus among Republicans before talking with Democrats and also because of the Democrats unwillingness to discuss private accounts created from taking a portion of payroll taxes away from Social Security. One of the most vocal critics of the private accounts, Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) applauded the chairman's efforts but added she thought the process should begin in a bipartisan way and be deliberate despite President Bush's call for legislation by the end of this year.