Political Quotes

“I rise in strong opposition to the point of order that will be offered by the Senator from Kentucky, which would have the effect of allowing harmful, indiscriminate budget cuts to be triggered. While there are certain safety net programs like Medicaid, food stamps, and Social Security that are exempt from these automatic cuts, the Medicare Program is not exempt, and there are a number of other vital programs in addition to Medicare, including Federal education programs, agricultural support for farmers, and funding for Citizenship and Immigration Services, among others, that would be subject to immediate automatic cuts if we failed to take action tonight to avert that outcome. It has been deeply disturbing to me to see seniors frightened about the possibility that a $25 billion cut in Medicare--that is a 4-percent reduction--would be automatically triggered. By waiving this point of order, we will prevent such cuts from taking place, reassuring our Nation's seniors and their loved ones. Although the law that could cause this reduction has been waived some 16 times--and indeed never implemented since it was enacted--I felt that it was essential that our leaders publicly commit that Medicare reductions would not be triggered, given the amount of fear, anxiety, and misinformation that is out there. I wrote to the Senate majority leader, urging that we immediately remove the threat of an automatic cut in Medicare's funding.…”