Despite providing the State of the Union address with its only truly funny section, President Bush's Social Security overhaul plan was barely mentioned during the speech. Bush proposed instead the classic "bipartisan commission" to put off real debate and most likely push the problem to someone else beyond his presidency. Yet the much publicized and thoroughly failed policies of Social Security privitization have not disappeared. In fact, they have been included in the FY 2007 budget release. It's actually a very ironic turn. Last year, the president launched a major public campaign to sell his accounts idea to the American people but failed to include even any outlines in his budget release that showed the costs of his plans. This year, talking about SS reform is so far down the priority list it can't be seen, but the president tried to sneak some budget figures in. The president has allocated $24 billion for the establishment of private accounts in 2010. The cost of the plan rises to $57 billion in 2011, and would total $712 billion over the next ten years. This was not what Congressional leaders expected, particularly Democrats. Ways and Means Ranking Member Charles Rangel (D-NY) said: The President's budget outlines his plan to privatize Social Security in no uncertain terms. The $712 billion price tag and $6.3 billion in benefit cuts Bush proposes are just the tip of the iceberg. To be honest, this isn't what I expected from a President who, just last week, suggested that Democrats and Republicans should hold hands and work this thing out. How can we take the President's offer at face value when his budget clearly tells us that, at the end of the day, he wants to privatize Social Security?