Political Quotes

“Mr. President, as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, I want to spend a minute saying a special commendation to Senators Brown and Casey, two exceptionally valuable members of the Senate Finance Committee who are going to be departing the Senate at the end of the year. Nobody in the Senate understands the importance of Social Security for seniors and Americans with disabilities better than Senators Brown and Casey. They have been leading the fight for years to protect and strengthen Social Security for current and future generations of Americans, and they have done it for their entire careers. That includes battling those who would want to privatize the system, those who would raise the retirement age or advance schemes that would otherwise cut benefits. It strikes me as particularly fitting that one of the final votes this body takes--and the first time the Senate votes to increase benefits in decades--will be a vote to ensure everyday Americans receive their earned benefits. I was director of the Oregon Gray Panthers for almost 7 years before coming into public life, and I long ago decided that protecting Americans' earned benefits has been a lodestar, and Senators Casey and Brown have followed that through their public service.…”