Political Quotes

“How about next week? We'll come back to the floor next week, and we'll pick up the issues of infrastructure, of jobs and the like. This week we need to focus on what has been put on the table by the Republicans and the Democrats on how to deal with the fiscal cliff, dealing with the issue of Social Security and Medicare. Social Security--no, not part of this problem. It is something we'll deal with perhaps in the next Congress or even in the one beyond that because we do have time to deal with Social Security. Medicare--for those who want to privatize Medicare, end it as we know it with a voucher or a premium support program--no. No way, no how are we going to go there. For those that want to work on changing the way in which Medicare operates to get savings, such as negotiating drug prices, dealing with fraud and abuse, the various payment systems that are in Medicare, all of which can save money and to continue the work of the Affordable Care Act, and the way it has already brought the inflation rate down from the 4 percent, 5 percent range down into 2, 2.5 percent range, this is an extraordinary savings right here. And that will be calculated in the years ahead. And, frankly, this will add up to hundreds of billions of dollars in the reduction and the projected cost of Medicare in the years ahead. So we're making progress. We've got work to do, and we're prepared to do it. The Democrats are prepared to put together a compromise. Let's get to work on it.…”