Political Quotes

“Mr. President, in late June, I came to the floor to speak about the need to fix the multiemployer pension system and how that system is failing its employees and retirees. I spoke about the need to secure retirement benefits for the millions of Americans who will start to see plans fail and benefits cut in the coming years if Congress doesn't fix this problem. For the past 2 weeks, Chairman Alexander and I were negotiating with our Democratic colleagues to do just that--fix the system so future retirees and retirees now would not lose out on what they were promised. Those negotiations were very constructive, and I believe that both sides worked in good faith. While both sides agreed to make significant changes, in the end, we weren't able to find a compromise that satisfied our respective principles and objectives for resolving this situation. Here is the hang up--time. Now at the end of the session, with the end-of-the-year agenda and adjournment of the Congress, we just ran out of time. So in the midst of yearend appropriations and COVID relief negotiations, there simply wasn't enough time to reconcile our differences on how to fix this failing system. My hope had been to use the last 8 months to negotiate a solution in a thoughtful and measured manner, instead of like now, in the heat of a complex yearend bill. But sadly, those 8 months didn't produce results.…”