Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague from South Carolina. I picked up an editorial this morning from the Washington Post that calls the cuts to the cost-of-living adjustments to military retirees minuscule and demeans this criticism. It calls the cuts teensy-weensy. I don't understand why anyone would want to support a measure that singles out--in other words, under this budget agreement, the group that got the cuts to their current benefits are those who have sacrificed the most for our country. To call this minuscule or teensy- weensy--I don't think it is so minuscule, as the Senator from South Carolina said, to an E-7 who makes about $25,000 a year in retirement and will lose close to $72,000 from the time he or she retires at 40 until they are 62. That is about 3 years of their retirement. That is not minuscule in a working family. This is not a minor situation. It is not minuscule to our veterans, those wounded warriors who have given the most, and who have, unfortunately, suffered so much.”