Chuck Grassley: “I want to quote from some. As you know, I have a chart up here talking about the AARP. All of you colleagues on that…”

“I want to quote from some. As you know, I have a chart up here talking about the AARP. All of you colleagues on that side of the aisle have been saying to me all day how dastardly it is that the AARP is backing this legislation. Some Members have even spoken of them becoming a political organization. They cannot become a political organization or they will lose their tax-exempt status. But you accuse them of being a tax-exempt organization. It is funny, last year when they did not come out for the bipartisan bill that several Members brought out, that the Democrat majority did not want to let pass because they wanted an issue in the last election instead of a product, the AARP was not backing what I, Senator Snowe, Senator Jeffords, Senator Breaux, and Senator Hatch wanted to do. Ours was a bipartisan effort, or a tripartisan effort, with Senator Jeffords being an Independent, to get a bill through because you cannot get through anything in this body if it is not bipartisan. The AARP did not like what we were doing. They did not discourage us but they did not help us. They actually sent letters out to support what Senator Kennedy was trying to do a year ago. I did not accuse the AARP of being a tool of the Democrat Party like Members on the other side are accusing the AARP of being in bed with the Republicans. They are not in bed with the Republicans. They are in bed with a bipartisan group of this body who want to do something for seniors of America.”