Political Quotes

“I appreciate as well the leadership of the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Maloney], the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Kennedy], and the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. English] in this battle to make sure we do in fact preserve during a budget season that the CPI, the cost of living index, be one that is accurate, one that is fair, and we have relied on for many years the Bureau of Labor Statistics for that purpose. My colleagues may recall historically that the Senate Finance Committee had considered a Boskin report which arbitrarily would have reduced by 1.1 percent the CPI. Those figures in our opinion did not reflect reality. The fact is, if we were to arbitrarily reduce by that percentage, we would see a $320 billion tax increase and we would unfairly disadvantage our seniors who, in fact, are looking to a cost of living allowance which is based on facts, that would take care of their needs and Social Security, the military retirement, and several other Federal programs. We believe the CPI is one that should not be budget-driven or deficit-driven or politically driven.”