Political Quotes

“My only statement to my friend from Wyoming--I am happy to see my western representative friend in the Chamber--is if we have a unified budget, why did we vote on more than one occasion to take it off budget? Social Security is not part of the unified budget. And because we have violated that, what we have done here on the Senate floor and in the House does not make it right. I believe the highway trust fund should be taken off budget. I have offered legislation on this floor--it is pending right now--saying we ought to spend money in the highway trust fund. The reason we are talking about the Social Security trust fund is just like Willie Sutton; when he was asked why he robbed banks, he said, ``That's where the money is.'' Social Security is where the bucks are. There is very little money in the highway trust fund on a comparable basis to Social Security. So that is why we are protecting Social Security. Emotional? Yes, it is emotional. It is emotional because people like my friend, Helen Collins, from Nevada said: I have been a widow since age 21. I never considered applying for any kind of welfare assistance. I worked and raised and educated my son. He got a master's degree. Sad to say, at age 71 I am totally on my own on quite a limited budget. By being very careful, I get by. However, I do worry about getting more seriously ill and losing Social Security. For many of us, these are not the golden years.”