Political Quotes

“I spent the August recess crisscrossing the State of Illinois from Chicago to Carbondale meeting with a variety of different people, asking them what was on their mind and what they were concerned about. The one thing that came through loud and clear at every meeting with every group was the fact that they are beginning to feel that working families in this country, the middle class of America, the backbone of this country, are falling behind. Husbands and wives are both working hard, playing by the rules, beating their heads against the wall, pushing their credit cards to the limit, worrying about paying for the kids' education, worrying about their own health care, worrying about whether that pension is going to be around. Mr. Speaker, I thought to myself as I worked across the State that, when I come back to Washington, each day as we sit up here and debate the important issues I am going to try to hold those issues against that basic concern that I heard across Illinois. What is it we are doing on this floor of the House of Representatives that will respond to that? Frankly, I do not think cutting Medicare benefits responds to those concerns, putting an additional burden on senior citizens and their families. I do not think the idea of tax breaks for people making over $150,000 a year makes any sense at all with our budget deficit, and that does not help the working families.”