Bush has been floating the "specifics" via leaks for the past month or so, and they've been seriously tested, mostly from conservatives, the liberal political establishment not even knowing why they believe the things they do.
Apparently this Wash Post reporter was wrong to a degree, but where you think he got his information? Wasn't Congress.
Bush can follow the normal course, propose the bill, THEN bargain and discuss. I read his "Congress" ploy to be an exit strategy to save some of that "political capital" he completely pinned on Social Security "reform".
Even this WH release, putting aside whether its "facts" are really speculations, makes it clear that it's not money under our control but the government's control.