Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today, with reservations, to support H.R. 3630, the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation of 2011. Benefits paid out by Social Security now exceed payroll taxes collected, and with no change the trust funds will run out by 2035. While this conference report would continue our policy of replacing uncollected payroll taxes with funds from general revenue, the $93 billion cost for ten months of this policy makes clear we cannot afford to continue it for the long term. Our focus on Social Security should be reforming it to ensure its viability for those who have paid in, not infusing it with hundreds of billions of additional dollars we don't have. However, H.R. 3630 allows Americans to continue to keep more of their paychecks for the rest of the year in this delicate economy. This bill also contains important reforms to Medicare and unemployment insurance and ensures this new, current spending is paid for. We cannot indefinitely pay out 99 weeks of unemployment benefits, and this bill begins phasing out these extended benefits. While I would prefer we permanently reform Medicare, this conference report ensures seniors have access to care through the end of the year by addressing physician reimbursement rates and other payment issues while laying the groundwork for permanent payment reform. We also reform federal employee benefits and will expand access to wireless broadband through this bill. These are important accomplishments worthy of support.…”