Washington ? Lawmakers and interest groups are gearing up for a fight this fall over Social Security, each side hoping to use the retirement and disability program’s 70th birthday to build momentum.

President Bush and House Republicans have yet to build a groundswell for shifting a portion of Social Security payroll taxes to individual accounts for younger workers. Whatever returns these investment accounts earn would supplement future benefits.

Bush’s proposal for addressing a looming insolvency in the government retirement program by trimming future benefits for high and middle-income earners also has yet to get traction.

Interest groups and lawmakers on all sides are using the program’s 70th anniversary today as an occasion to kickstart a debate begun last winter when Bush made Social Security the centerpiece of his State of the Union address. That debate had faded by summer, but House Republicans still hope to vote on some version of the revisions this fall.

One group opposed to the idea of individual investment accounts held birthday baking contests and urged undecided lawmakers “cut the cake, not the benefits.” The organization, Americans United to Protect Social Security, also produced a birthday card “wishing for 70 more years of guaranteed benefits.”

Bush traveled to more than two dozen states this winter and spring promoting his idea for letting younger workers divert a portion of their payroll taxes into individual investment accounts. All the while, wary Republicans in Congress advised their leaders against bringing the issue to a vote.

The White House says Bush will renew his focus in early September after returning from a month of vacation. While he has succeeded in alerting the public about Social Security’s problems, polls show that most Americans don’t like his solution.

Republicans still vow to produce legislation, but Democrats confidently predict it’s too unpopular to pass.

Treasury Secretary John Snow predicted last week that Congress will revamp Social Security this year.