Political Quotes

“it is a great morning, but I am going to talk about a disconcerting bill that we might be taking up today or maybe tomorrow. It is the private pension bill for the railroad workers in this country. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson) and I are sending out a dear colleague this morning, Mr. Speaker. I hope all staff and workers and Members who are concerned about reaching into the Social Security- Medicare trust fund next year will take a look at this dear colleague, and then take a look at the railroad retirement bill that cost $15 billion. I have been working on Social Security since I came here in 1993. In working with the Social Security system and researching its origins back to 1934, I discovered that the railroad employees were included in the social security system at that time in 1934. The railroad workers and employers who were tremendously influential politically back in the 1930's as they are today, came to Congress and said we do not want to be part of the Social Security system, we want our own pension system.”