Political Quotes

“I rise to speak about the Gregg-Conrad amendment that I hope we will vote on later this evening or tomorrow. I know everybody in this body is concerned greatly about the long-term issues we have to deal with as relates to our deficits. I think everybody in this body has concerns about that. I know there has been a lot of discussion, especially by members of the Finance Committee, that we need to deal with the long-term deficits in this body through regular order. The fact is, this is the responsibility of the committee. I respect members of the Finance Committee. Someday, I would like to serve on that committee. They do outstanding work. I think all of us realize that there is no way we are going to deal with the long-term issues relating to Social Security and Medicare without doing something that causes us to have to take a vote. A lot of people criticize the Gregg-Conrad amendment, saying that there is a possibility that one of the recommendations that may come forth from this commission that would actually make a report and call us to vote after November of this year is that there may be a tax increase that is recommended in this legislation. The Gregg-Conrad amendment would get Republicans and Democrats to agree on a way to deal with long-term issues. It does not commit people to vote for those recommendations. As a matter of fact, there is nothing in this amendment that speaks to tax increases.”