Political Quotes

“when I came to the floor this morning, the last thing I wanted to talk about was balanced budgets and Social Security. But my friend from Idaho, in effect, made the argument that I made 4 weeks ago when I offered the amendment on Social Security, and that argument is--I guess it could be summed up best as my mother told me on numerous occasions: Two wrongs do not make a right. It is not right that we have, contrary to law, since 1990 raided the Social Security trust fund. It is against the law to do that. We have gone ahead and done it anyway and, as my friend from Idaho stated, we are still doing it. We should stop doing it, and that is the whole point of the debate on Social Security. Social Security has not contributed 1 cent to the deficit, not a penny. What right do we then have to take 6.2 percent out of the check of any of the personnel around here, any of the people in the audience, 6.2 percent of their paycheck, of their money and then the employer matches it 6.2 percent. So 12.4 percent of every person's paycheck is put into a trust fund. For what? For retirement so that when they retire, they will have Social Security benefits. That is a program we have had for 60 years. That money, contrary to what my friend from Idaho said, is not to be used for foreign aid. It is not a tax to pay for the peacekeeping mission in Haiti. It is not money to pay for farm subsidies. It is not taxes paying for B-2 bombers.”