Political Quotes

“there are some Members that would like to put off a decision on balancing the budget and having tax cuts. There are some Members that would hope that we could discuss this enough that they might discourage the President from going along with this tax cut and balanced budget for the American people. Regarding the questions whether we have had time to review this legislation, we never have enough time for each Member to totally understand the text of this legislation without the help of specialists. Look at Medicare, which is the large portion of this bill. It is essentially the same Medicare proposal that was offered by the Republicans over 2 years ago. It is the same Medicare bill that was demagogued last year in the election. Obviously Members have had 2 years to review that proposal. If we want to look at the other provisions of this bill, many are similar and we have talked about them since we voted on similar change in 1995. This legislation, this agreement has been on the table since last April in terms of what Republicans and Democrats working together actually signed off on a detailed agreement. We are doing what the American people want us to do. That is balancing the budget and cutting taxes. There is a lot more to do but this is a good start.”