WASHINGTON (AP) – Congressional Republicans on Wednesday shunned President Bush’s election-year call to cut Social Security benefits, and one committee chairman accused the administration of seeking to end “a pittance for widows and widowers.”

“I have no plans to pursue these proposals,” said GOP Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

The budget that Bush submitted to Congress on Monday proposes eliminating a $255 lump-sum death benefit that has been part of Social Security for more than 50 years. It also urges Congress to cut off monthly survivor benefits to 16- and 17-year-old high school dropouts.

If approved, the two proposals would save a combined $3.4 billion over the next decade, according to administration estimates.

Based on early reaction, or lack of it, prospects for congressional passage seemed remote.

Democrats hastened to criticize the proposals on Tuesday and continued their attack into a second day.

Both Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., were quick to applaud Bush’s overall budget proposals on Monday, but their aides declined repeated requests over two days for comments on the president’s suggested change in Social Security.

Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, also offered no reaction.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who is in the Senate GOP leadership, said, “I haven’t looked at that,” adding he was unable to offer an opinion.

As the Finance Committee chairman, Grassley has jurisdiction over Social Security, and he made clear the administration’s proposals would not be on the year’s agenda.

“The administration didn’t consult with me on these proposals. Even if someone had, I’d be hard-pressed to give them a second look,” he said in a statement.

“I can’t see how ending a pittance for widows and widowers, and modest benefits for kids who have lost a parent, would be good policy decisions,” Grassley said.

Bush’s budget also renewed the president’s call for a complete overhaul of Social Security, including creation of personal savings accounts and a reduction in future benefits promised to younger workers.

Despite congressional majorities strengthened in the last elections, Republicans flinched from his proposals a year ago, and legislation failed to make it to the floor of either the House or Senate.

Grassley has said he does not intend to spend time this year on those proposals.

Administration officials have described the $255 death benefit as an administrative burden because it is paid in some cases but not all, and said its elimination is unlikely to cause hardship.

They also say the provision relating to 16- and 17-year-olds is an incentive for them to remain in school.