Political Quotes

“I take this opportunity to address the Senate about the amendment we hope to offer in the immediate future. That is the amendment regarding the exclusion of Social Security from the balanced budget amendment. Mr. President, I believe that we lost the amendment that has been debated on this floor for a week dealing with the right to know; that is, whether the American public should be able to understand the glidepath that will allow this Government to arrive at a balanced budget by 2002. That was denied. The American public does not have the right to know how we are going to arrive at that balanced budget by the year 2002. I hope, though, Mr. President, that the next matter we are going to discuss, namely, Social Security, would be something the American public should have the right to know. How are we going to handle Social Security in the overall mix of this balanced budget amendment? It would seem to me that senior citizens, but just as importantly all the people of this country, men and women who are working for a living and those people who yet will work, should be entitled to know how we are going to handle Social Security. I, frankly, am disappointed the way it was handled in the other body.”