Political Quotes

“I want to ask him a few questions and then let him finish his remarks. As the Senator was talking and showing this chart, it brought back to me the 1995 Government shutdown. We remember what that was about. Essentially, the President took a very firm stand in favor of Medicare, the environment, and education, and against the kind of tax cuts for the wealthy that would have meant devastating those programs. And the Government actually shut down over this. I am sure my friend remembers, it was a stunning thing. But it was really tax cuts for the wealthy, taking it straight from Medicare. Now what we have is a situation that is very similar. We know we have to fix Social Security. The Republicans have said they agree with that, but they are silent on the issue of Medicare. They do nothing about shoring it up whatsoever. And yet they propose the same kind of tax cuts. So I say to my friend, in 1995 Republicans essentially shut down the Government because they wanted these tax cuts at the expense of Medicare. And this year it looks like they are shutting down Medicare so they can go back to these tax cuts. I wonder if he sensed, as I did, as we watched this budgetary debate unfold--if it did not bring back all these memories, and how he feels about that, because it was a pretty tough time we went through and I do not want to see those times repeated. I ask my colleague to comment.”