Kendrick Meek: “reclaiming my time, I am saying all of that to say we have to work together. You cannot come to the Hill with a plan and…”

“reclaiming my time, I am saying all of that to say we have to work together. You cannot come to the Hill with a plan and say ``It is our plan; and, guess what, if you do not like it, so what?'' This is Social Security. The campaign is over. For folks who did not get the news flash, our colleagues, the campaign is over. The signs are down, the commercials are no longer on television, and it is important that we actually work towards what the American people would like for us to work towards: bipartisanship. I will tell the gentleman what is also important in this debate: If there was a Democratic majority here in this House and a Democratic majority in the other body across the hall and there was a Democrat in the White House, guess what? Democrats could not pass a plan by themselves without Republican input. Because do you know something? When Mrs. Johnson goes to that mailbox counting on that Social Security check to be there, and when that 21-year-old young man or young woman that has a benefit from their father, who worked his entire life and was cheated on his job because the pension plan was raided and Social Security was the only thing there, his only financial legacy is that benefit to his child in Social Security. You cannot play around with that. You cannot be a Democrat or Republican or an independent when it comes down to that. You have to be an American, and you have to come clean with the American people.”