U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller says he doesn't want any idea enacted on Social Security that would affect the program's trust fund.

Rockefeller says that if President Bush's "private accounts" plan is enacted, it would divert money to those accounts that would otherwise go to the trust fund, and he had a warning Wednesday for a group of Ravenswood senior citizens: not to heed mailings asking for money to save Social Security.

"Those groups are a rip-off," Rockefeller said. "They just want your money."

Rockefeller has discounted the Bush administration's claims that the Social Security system is on the way to going broke.

The West Virginia Democrat told senior citizens that it will be another 12 years before it even has to tap into its trust fund. Rockefeller says it's that trust fund that could be hurt the most if the Bush "private accounts" plan goes into effect.

That, he says, is because it would change how Social Security taxes are collected. He adds there's a better way to fix the system, involving the federal tax cuts.

"One-third of the tax cuts would not be made permanent," he said. "Two-thirds would be, but the one-third that is not made permanent would be used to solve Social Security totally until the year 2075."

Rockefeller predicts private accounts tied to stock market production won't raise much money, at least not in the next few years, and the senator said his trip Wednesday to Ravenswood was planned before news broke this week of the president's plans to visit the area.