Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am here to call up my amendment today so we can save money for our Nation and for our military. Certainly, I am not here to derail the National Defense Authorization Act. I am thankful that again this year we have a great bipartisan bill, and I am hopeful my bipartisan amendment can be made pending today. Amendment No. 2400 is the Presidential Allowance Modernization Act, and it has cleared committee by voice vote and cleared my colleagues on the Republican side on the hotline. However, my minority counterparts have had months to look at this bill now in amendment form, and it still remains blocked. This bill passed the House with unanimous support and has been included in the House NDAA bill. This amendment would establish a cap on former Presidents' monetary allowances, which are currently unlimited and fund resources like office space, staff salaries, cell phone bills, and more. Under this amendment, former Presidents would receive a $200,000 annual pension and an allowance capped at $500,000--a total of $700,000 in annual benefits. It would then reduce the allowance dollar for dollar by each dollar of income a former President earns in excess of $400,000. The national debt is over $20 trillion. We cannot afford to generously subsidize the perks of former Presidents to the tune of millions of dollars. With that, Mr. President, I would like to make my amendment pending. I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to call up amendment No.…”