Political Quotes

“because of the way that the quotes were lifted from my speeches, this action can only be viewed as intentional. Senator Lott falsely states that I was talking about the balanced budget amendment that had been introduced by his side of the aisle when, in fact, I was speaking about my own substitute amendment, with other Senators here, one that, among other things, excluded Social Security. This action can only be viewed as irresponsible. Further reading of my original quote clearly indicates I was advocating the same position a year ago that I advocated on the Senate floor last week and that I remain committed to today: Ensuring that Social Security is not used to balance the budget. The truth of the matter is that this error has backfired. This attempt to discredit me and my intentions has instead shown from day 1 that I have had serious reservations about what could happen to Social Security. While I was voicing my concern about Social Security, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle were putting together proposals to carve up the Social Security trust fund. Mr. President, I have papers right here, drafted in the form of a bill, which show the amount of Social Security moneys that would be used from the trust fund. That was offered to me as an alternate proposal. They were going to use the Social Security trust fund. This one is for 10 years. Generally, something like this might be passed off as an isolated incident.”