Mike Thompson: “It has taken about 50 years to get such a clear vote to the floor, and I can assure the President that it will not take…”

“It has taken about 50 years to get such a clear vote to the floor, and I can assure the President that it will not take another 50 years to get another vote on it. It is an idea that is not only demanded by the American people, but I think more and more the people in this body understand that we are incapable institutionally now of dealing with the problems facing this country under the current setup. One could not be anything but amazed and somewhat saddened to listen to that giant oak of a man, Senator Alan Simpson from Wyoming, yesterday as he recounted his experiences of three terms in this body. It was with a twinkle in his eye--because he always has a twinkle in his eye even under the most serious circumstances--but somewhat with a heavy heart as he is leaving this body after this year that he had to recount one more time what everyone in this body knows behind closed doors; that is, that we are bankrupting our country; that our Social Security system cannot survive as currently constituted; that Medicare will fall; that within a relatively few years a handful of programs and the interest on the national debt will take all of our revenues.”