Marshall Sanford

Love was the easiest word to describe him, and I suppose what I will most miss.

He didn't spend his time talking about his faith, he lived it.

In his 44 years he did not spectate on life, he lived it.

In short, he didn't spend his time talking about his faith, he lived it.

He had the light, you could see it in his eyes and in his actions.

He lived a life that towers as an example to each of my four boys.

If I had ever found myself in real trouble with the option of only one call, it would have been to Gordon.

And, basically, what it said is that none of us have any legal claim whatsoever to our own Social Security money. So this whole issue of private property rights, the issue of owning our own account, seeing a monthly statement, knowing to…

The same study, if one were black, one would actually earn a negative rate of return on the investment because of the shorter life expectancy with black males. So this translates into real money over a person's retirement, because that…

I have got friends back home that said, ``Mark, are you all a bunch of green-eye-shade-covered accountant types in Washington, or are you not the guys that are cutting spending in Washington, taking stuff away from people?'' ... All we are…

As the gentleman is pulling that chart up, Mr. Speaker, what I think is interesting about what the gentleman was getting at, again, is this whole notion that we have said we are going to have surpluses basically as far as the eye can see…

Yes. So basically $100 billion, to keep the math simple, got borrowed here, and 277 versus 164, again a difference of about $100 billion that was borrowed in 1995. In 1996, $261 was what we borrowed, and 107, a little more than that. We…

That begins with straightforward and honest accounting, which is what the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Coburn) is getting at. Looking at the numbers, by any family definition, if we had somebody living on our street that had to borrow from…

I agree, but I think, if the gentleman will yield, what is interesting is that before we can get to any Social Security plan, and the gentleman is right, I have been a big proponent of a number of different things on that front, we…

And, most significantly, I think they would keep in place the safety. The key issue with Social Security is safety of Social Security. If we were to draw a financial pyramid, the safest investments ought to be there at the foundation, if…

Of the available choices, I mean, it seems to me that the most reasonable of those three choices would be growing the assets of the trust fund at a higher rate. And then the question simply is, well, do we do that collectively, which is…

Because what I think is interesting about that chart is that, while we may not get it in Washington, folks back home in Oklahoma or folks back home in South Carolina or folks back home across this country really understand this chart; and…

If we are to get monetary policy right and defense policy right and Social Security checks on time, this government too has to be limited. And for that reason alone, I would stand in support of the Royce amendment.

Which is a great thing. In other words, that is what we are charged to do by the Founding Fathers. I think in the same way, it is a very legitimate point, a very legitimate point to say that, in this debate, we ought to look at limits on…

But in a 5-4 Supreme Court decision, they have also held in a different version a separation of church and States than the one that you voted for. The Supreme Court said that we could not practice openly and freely religion in the schools…

Mr. Speaker, if we stop and think about it, our Founding Fathers built our country on a simple concept called freedom. Freedom is the ingredient that they willed for every human soul. Freedom is not something that Nelson Mandela saw for…

This amendment would leave it up to you all basically to decide on how those resources might shift. All it does is freeze and prevent in essence a 3-percent increase.

My only question for the gentleman would be, does he think that there might be 3 percent or just shy of 3 percent of waste within the State Department?

Again, in 1983 the State Department was funded with $1.9 billion. Today it is funded with $3.97 billion. To me that would not be a cut.

I would call a cut a cut from what we are spending today. I think we both know this is simply a freeze at 1997 levels.