Political Quotes

“I thank my colleagues. Sometimes by accident the Senate lapses into something which perilously resembles debate. This may be one of those moments. For those who are following it, welcome to the Senate as I hoped it would be. I congratulate my colleagues on the Republican side and my colleague Senator Stabenow for engaging in this debate. The first question the American people ought to ask is a very basic question: Congress, if you did nothing, if you didn't change one word in the Social Security law, how long would the Social Security system make payments to every retiree with a cost-of-living adjustment every single year? To listen to my colleague from Pennsylvania, it sounds as though doomsday for Social Security is right around the corner. But the professionals tell us it is 35 to 45 years away; 35 to 45 years if we do nothing. President Bush and Senator Santorum and others have said, but what about beyond that date? That is a legitimate challenge to all of us. When I came to Congress in 1983, I faced that challenge on a bipartisan basis. We met that challenge. We extended the life of Social Security for 59 years with commonsense changes. That is what we should do again. Yet the President comes to us and proposes privatization. Now I have said it. I said the word which drives the Republicans into a rage. They don't want to use 'privatization.' It is as Senator Bumpers said, they hate privatization like the devil hates holy water.”