Political Quotes

“I note the presence of my friend from Tennessee on the floor. Before he speaks, I would like to spend a moment responding to Senator Collins, and then I will quickly yield to him. I thank Senator Collins. She made a quite complicated subject very understandable. It is a misunderstanding--really a misstatement--to say the money the Postal Service will be refunded is taxpayer money. It is not. It is the return of money collected, as the Senator said, by the post office from ratepayers and from their own employees which was mistakenly put into this retirement fund. This is no more a bailout with taxpayer money than in the case--which happens--where an individual or a business overpays taxes to the Federal Government. When that miscalculation or error is discovered, they can ask for a refund. That is exactly what has happened here with the Postal Service. It is critically important to this bill and to the future of the Postal Service because we are requiring in the bill and authorizing that the money refunded not be used for more spending but be used to, one, pay down the debt and, two, make investments by incentivizing the retirement of employees, which will have an enormously important effect on the annual Postal Service budget.…”