Political Quotes

“let me remind some of my good friends on the other side of the aisle in listening to the rhetoric that one of their own appointees over at the Department of Health and Human Services, the official actuary that is respected by both, says, ``The proposal would have no financial impact on the HI trust fund. Program income would not be affected, and the estimated year of exhaustion for the HI trust fund would continue to be 2025, as under present law.'' So that is all rhetoric and not fact. My colleagues, we are talking about lowering taxes on senior citizens. When my friends on the other side of the aisle, and I point out that every Republican voted no on placing this tax on senior citizens in 1993, when they voted to impose this new tax of 85 percent on Social Security benefits, it only affected 5 million seniors. They figured it was not a big deal. But today it now punishes or soon will punish almost 17.5 million Social Security beneficiaries. When the tax took effect in 1994, one in 10 seniors was punished by this tax. Today one in five is punished. And by the year 2010, one in three will be punished by this tax. It is all about fairness. When Congress and the President so long ago created this, they said that if they pay in, they are going to get their benefits as part of the deal. Let us make sure they get their part of the deal.”