Political Quotes

“The distinguished chair of the Budget Committee spoke here a few minutes ago. He spoke about a moral obligation. An interesting definition of ``moral obligation'': An obligation to maintain the benefits that the insurance industry has; an obligation to maintain the subsidy that the American taxpayers give to the richest industry in this world, the oil industry, billions of dollars a year; an obligation to maintain the tax benefits to the wealthiest millionaires and billionaires in the world. Apparently, that's his definition of a moral obligation. We have a different definition on our side of the aisle. We have a definition on our side of the aisle that says it is the obligation of this society to provide medical care to our seniors. Our Republican colleagues see their moral obligation as terminating, ending, Medicare for all Americans who are not yet 55 years of age. Say it any way you want, but that's precisely what your budget does. It terminates Medicare. Is that your moral obligation? It's not ours on our side. Our side is to maintain the promise that when a senior in the United States becomes 65 years of age, they will have Medicare. Our good chairman comes and he says we're not cutting benefits for seniors. That's not true. In fact, you're cutting $700 billion out of the Medicaid--Medicaid--program, a program where two-thirds of the money goes to seniors who are in nursing homes. The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Schock). The time of the gentleman has expired.”