Political Quotes

“I won't go into great length about it. The very fact that the President has failed to address the issue of entitlements, has walked away from his own commission, the Bowles-Simpson Commission that had the support of Senator Coburn and Senator Durbin, leads you to activity like this. Many times Members are frustrated to deal with this issue. We have $14 trillion of debt, and in the statement I gave on the floor several weeks ago, I said had I been a member of the commission, I would have voted for it. I think it was a missed opportunity. I also said that failure to address the issue of dealing with Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security will unfortunately result in many times the poor being hurt. In the Bible it says in Proverbs when you give to the poor, you loan to God, and I am sensitive to that. But the very fact that the administration, the President appoints the commission, comes out at a big press conference, and then walks away from it, leads you to some activity like this. This would wipe out Legal Services, so I strongly urge Members to oppose the amendment, and I urge Members to contact the White House and ask them to support entitlement reform in the Simpson-Bowles package.”