Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I wish to speak as in morning business to talk about the big issue pending before the Senate, which is the potential legislation by Republicans or Democrats to cut contributions to Social Security. I am very worried because in the legislation we considered last week, we had proposals to cut contributions to Social Security by $250 billion. This was legislation proposed by Democratic leaders and then a separate piece of legislation by Republican leaders. I think that legislation was a mistake on both sides. We have precious few bipartisan institutions or contacts in this Senate. Senator Manchin and I--one Democratic and one Republican Senator, both freshmen--meet every Thursday for lunch. At our Thursday lunch last week, Senator Manchin initially said: I am having difficulty. I don't think I am going to be able to vote for the Democratic bill to cut Social Security contributions. I said: I join you in that because I am not going to be able to vote for the Republican bill that cuts Social Security contributions. So the two of us voted pro-Social Security and against the legislation before us. I am very worried that we are forgetting the lessons that are currently playing out in Europe on this subject. As Margaret Thatcher said, ``Eventually socialists run out of other people's money.'' The collapse of European socialism underscores the lesson that you cannot run a retirement system without contributions.…”