Frank Lautenberg: “with all due respect and friendship for my colleague, the chairman of the Committee on the Budget, we both would like to…”

“with all due respect and friendship for my colleague, the chairman of the Committee on the Budget, we both would like to get to the same place. I am sure he has never heard me use terms like ``embezzlement.'' I don't do that kind of stuff. Frankly, I do not like that terminology. I don't care from where it comes. But what we see here is what I would call a couple of escape hatches in the legislation that worry the devil out of us. That is, perhaps in the interest of Social Security reform or retirement security, we are locking ourselves into a position where we would be unable to respond to changes in the economy. That is not where we ought to be. This economy is too important in the whole world scheme of things. It is too important in terms of those who are very dependent, totally dependent, in some cases, on the benefits derived from Social Security, veterans' benefits, Medicare. That is all they have in many cases. With the threat of creating a debt limit, and I think artificially creating a new debt limit, I think we could immediately be damaging the possibility that these benefits might be offered. That is where we differ. I always enjoy my work with the distinguished Senator from New Mexico, except when he wins, which we does so often. But other than that, we ought to be able to sit down and reason out some of these things. I hope this vote, by discouraging cloture, will give us some impetus to sit down and try to work the problems out.”