Political Quotes

“I am a member of the majority. When the majority brings a bill to the floor, you normally start off with ``yes'' and hope to stay there. In this case, I started off with ``likely'' and didn't arrive at a ``yes.'' So, reluctantly, I am going to vote ``no'' on this bill. I am not going to vote ``no'' because of what it seeks to do. I am certainly not going to vote ``no'' knowing that we need to fund our troops in the field in a war that has dragged on for 15 years and now has re-ignited. But I am going to vote ``no'' because of how this bill is paid for. I have done as much as I can as long as I can to tolerate how we ``score'' things. At the risk of being wrong, I will remind people that I am only as good as the information that my staff has given me. But according to CBO, $2.5 billion worth of this pay-for comes from premium payments that are accelerated, meaning we are robbing from the future to pay for today. Another one comes from extended pension smoothing, $9 billion. This is a time-shifting on money over 10 years. Again, we are robbing from the future to pay for this year. Another one, $4 billion, comes from Social Security disability. But it is a double count. It has already been scored elsewhere previously. And $5 billion comes from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This will be the third time this year that we have brought a bill saying we are going to sell this oil at its low price.…”