Political Quotes

“As the Senator from South Carolina knows, Mr. President, right now we are spending as much money as the current benefit system requires. We are fulfilling every single benefit which Social Security on an annual basis requires. The question is, If you have additional money, what do the American people want done with it? I think the American people do not want it spent for and don't want to see that additional surplus used for tax cuts. I think the American people are fed up with that. In my judgment, if the amendment were offered and passed, then that money will be spent, or it will be used in one of the fashions you have just described, the very way it has been used since 1983. So the question is which option do we prefer? I would like to see the money used to modernize Social Security. I hope we can on a bipartisan basis come forward with a plan that, in fact, modernizes Social Security for the 21st century. Until we do that, of the three choices left to us, it seems to me that at least the constituents in my State want to make sure that money doesn't get spent. I don't want to see it used for tax cuts. We want to see it used either to fix Social Security, or to bring down the national debt, because by bringing down the national debt we will, in effect, strengthen our position as we attempt to solve Social Security in the long term.”